


Raggedy Man

by bangster_12



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: A little corny, A little cringey, First Attempt at Sci-Fi, Kaisoo as the Ponds, M/M, Suho as River Pond, Time Travel, based on my favorite episodes of Doctor Who, just imagine The Doctor to look like Sehun, major character deaths...but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-24 15:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21900121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bangster_12/pseuds/bangster_12
Summary: Kyungsoo just wanted a date.What he got was an adventure of a lifetime!
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22
Collections: Kaisoo OLAO Chapter Two





	1. Hello, Raggedy Man

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! First, I would like to thank the prompter for this prompt. I love Doctor Who so much and I'm happy someone in the fandom loves it also! When I read the prompt, I already formed the story in my head and since my favorite Doctor was Eleven and my favorite companions were the Ponds, I picked my favorite episodes from their series and combined it to this fic! I'm sorry for some terms that may be too technical since Doctor Who is a sci-fi series!
> 
> But anyhoo, I hope you'll love this!
> 
> As what Eleven always says, Geronimo!

Kyungsoo’s nervous.

And he can’t understand why he’s nervous.

He was just going to meet Jongin, not the bloody prince.

But it won’t be just a simple meet-up.

It’s a date.

Finally.

The idiot finally mustered up the courage to ask him out.

Patience wasn't Kyungsoo's greatest trait, and he had almost run out of it waiting for Jongin to ask him out. So much so that he almost asked him out first. Good thing Jongin finally did.

They've been friends since before Kyungsoo can remember, and their families have been neighbors for just as long. Kyungsoo’s parents died when he was young and it was the Kims that mostly took care of him because his aunt was always busy. So he was like a second son to the Kims.

"It's just Jongin," Kyungsoo muttered to himself as he styled his hair. He's even styling his hair for the idiot when he wouldn’t even comb it on normal days.

Kyungsoo’s a children’s book writer so he mostly spends his time inside his house and he rarely even goes outside. So he's not used to dressing up. But Jongin already saw the worst of him and he still asked him out. Kyungsoo can call that a win.

The stories Kyungsoo wrote were the stories he knew as a kid. He used the story of his imaginary friend in his books and he never expected it to be a hit.

_His imaginary friend._

When he was young, Kyungsoo was sure that an eccentric man in a blue phone box arrived at his house one day, claiming that he was an alien who traveled through time and space. He brought him to a museum and promised Kyungsoo that he would come back and travel with him again. He couldn’t remember anything else, but he was sure that it happened.

But his aunt and all his psychiatrists believed that he was just being delusional. That his brain created this imaginary friend because he was lonely.

The only person who ever believed him was Jongin. Though he knew that Jongin would believe anything he'd say anyway. It was Jongin who asked Kyungsoo, “Why not turn the stories of your imaginary friend into a book?”

His phone pinged and Kyungsoo glanced down at it. Jongin had just messaged him that he just got off at work and was now proceeding to their meeting place. Jongin was a veterinarian in a small clinic and someday he wants to open his own clinic.

Kyungsoo was more nervous now. He planned to tell Jongin that he loves him. They might’ve just gotten together but Kyungsoo had loved him, ever since they were still kids. Kyungsoo even mentioned to Jongin, “Why bother dating when we can skip to the wedding directly?” Jongin just gave him a nervous laugh. He thought Kyungsoo was joking. But Kyungsoo was not.

Kyungsoo applied another layer of strawberry lip balm. His lips were shiny and a little reddish now. It was cold out so he can’t have chapped lips.

And maybe he might want his boyfriend to kiss him.

Well, he'll initiate the kiss if Jongin won't anyway.

Kyungsoo grabbed his phone and keys and looked around to see if he’d forgotten anything.

His eyes fell on the crack on his wall. It had been there Kyungsoo can’t recall since when, but it had bothered him a lot. He’ll talk to his aunt about hiring someone to fix it.

He sent a short message to Jongin telling him that he was on his way too and then locked the door behind him.

Kyungsoo had a smile on his face when he saw Jongin waiting by the bench. Jongin kept on looking at his phone that he didn’t notice Kyungsoo approaching.

“Boo!”

Jongin fell sideways on the bench, his hand on his chest trying to calm his heart.

“Goddamn it, Soo! Are you trying to kill me?”

Kyungsoo just gave him a mischievous grin.

“No, sir. You’ll have to marry me first before you go dying on me.”

Jongin sat up, reached up and flicked Kyungsoo’s forehead.

“Stop joking about marriage... or else!”

“Or else what?” Kyungsoo dared.

“Or else I might propose tonight,” Jongin said.

Kyungsoo’s eyes went wide and it was Jongin’s turn to smirk.

“See? That shut you up,” Jongin said as he picked up his bag and scarf. “Let’s go eat, I’m starving.”

They walked side by side and holding hands. But a strong wind blew and Kyungsoo shivered.

“Why did you dress so lightly?” Jongin tsked as he wrapped the scarf around Kyungsoo’s neck.

“Kim Jongin, always the protector,” Kyungsoo said, looking up at the man before him with all the love in the world.

"An honor, my liege," Jongin mock-bowed before him.

They both erupted into giggles. Jongin wrapped an arm around Kyungsoo's shoulder and pulled him closer. Kyungsoo, in turn, slid his hand down Jongin’s back and rested it on Jongin’s waist, while the other hand was placed above Jongin’s chest, where it was warm. It was always Kyungsoo's favorite place.

Jongin was telling him about his day at the clinic over their dinner. Kyungsoo could only watch his boyfriend talking animatedly opposite him with a big smile on his face.

Jongin stopped when he noticed that Kyungsoo was just staring at him.

“What? Something on my face?”

Kyungsoo shook his head. “I was just thinking that we could’ve done this earlier. I mean, we could’ve dated earlier. Think of all the dates we missed because we were both stupid enough not to admit our feelings.”

Jongin grinned. “But hey.”

“Hey what?”

Jongin reached over the table to hold Kyungsoo’s hand.

“We have the rest of our lives together to do all those things.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Promise you will never leave me?”

“Not a chance, sir,” Jongin smiled widely. “I promise I will never leave you,” Jongin stated.

They talked some more while walking back towards their houses. Kyungsoo found it amazing that even though they talk all the time, they still never ran out of things to talk about.

Jongin was squeezing Kyungsoo’s hands as they stood at Kyungsoo’s porch.

“Go in first,” Jongin urged him.

“You go first. I’m not the one with the curfew.”

Jongin rolled his eyes and made a tiny groan. “You’d think my parents will lift my curfew now that I'm working and dating?”

“You’re kidding, right? Your parents even moved your curfew an hour earlier now that we’re dating.”

Jongin chuckled. He stepped forward, hands travelling towards Kyungsoo’s waist, pulling him closer and resting his forehead on Kyungsoo’s.

“Go in. You must be tired,” Jongin whispered.

"Jongin, I just spend my days sitting and trying to come up with something to write while you were the one spending your day chasing Labradors and wrestling German Shepherds," Kyungsoo said with a small laugh.

Jongin chuckled again. He reached up and pressed his fingers on Kyungsoo’s temples. “I’m merely using strength while you’ve been using your brain the entire day. I know that’s more exhausting.”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes and relished at his boyfriend’s beautiful fingers on him. He almost bit back a moan escaping his lips. How lewd must he sound?

The massage stopped as Jongin’s hands slid to his neck, thumbs brushing his cheeks.

“Kyungsoo…”

Kyungsoo felt Jongin’s breath on his face. When he opened his eyes, Jongin’s face was so near he had to close his eyes again and puckered his lips.

The strawberry lip balm was not a total waste after all.

But there was suddenly a sound.

A sound that Kyungsoo had heard long ago.

A sound that Kyungsoo was told he was just imagining.

A sound that Kyungsoo will never forget.

“Jongin, that sound!” He pushed Jongin and slapped his chest.

Jongin was only a few inches more when he heard Kyungsoo spoke and shifted. He let go of Kyungsoo’s face and stepped back. Kyungsoo wasn’t looking at him but was looking at the garden.

“Look!”

Jongin squinted, trying to see where Kyungsoo was pointing but there was nothing.

But there was suddenly a loud sound that Jongin has never heard before.

“He’s back!”

The wind suddenly blew like there was an industrial fan in front of them. Kyungsoo ran into the gardens and kept calling him to follow. He followed and stood with Kyungsoo when something was materializing in front of his eyes.

“I told you he was real! I told you!” Kyungsoo sobbed but he was also bouncing in excitement.

“What do you mean?” Jongin shouted over the noise, covering his face as leaves and twigs were swirling around them.

“My Raggedy Man,” Kyungsoo said. “He came back!”

The ground shook, almost throwing them down. When Jongin put down his hand, a blue police phone box was standing before them.

“He’s real,” Kyungsoo said softly as he stepped forward and tentatively touched the box.

Jongin had to pinch and slap himself to prove that he wasn’t dreaming and just seeing things. Something just appeared before his eyes out of nothing. Like it was magic.

The door suddenly opened.

“Hello, Raggedy Man!” Kyungsoo greeted, craning to see what’s inside.

But no reply came.

Suddenly, a man emerged from the door and fell forwards. Kyungsoo, being the nearest, caught him and grunted at the sudden weight.

Kyungsoo can smell like something was burning. There was smoke coming out from the man in his arms and his skin was scorching hot. “Jongin, help,” he managed to croak.

It took seconds for Jongin to finally move and help his boyfriend. They sat the stranger on the ground, leaning him on the blue box.

“Is he alive?” Kyungsoo asked. “Check him!”

“Why me?”

“You’re a doctor! Check him!”

“I’m a veterinarian! I’m a doctor of animals!” Jongin said.

“Just check his vitals!”

Jongin placed his hand below the unconscious man’s nose. “He’s breathing, at least,” Jongin said. He placed two fingers below the jaw to find the pulse beating fast. The man felt hot under his fingertips. Not like fever-hot but just like someone who stepped out of a sauna. Then he checked the pulse on the wrist. Then Jongin crouched down and placed his head on the man's chest. "That's weird. The beats are irregular. Fast even. It seemed as if he has two –"

“— hearts.”

Both Jongin and Kyungsoo fell on their asses when the stranger finally spoke.

“Where am I?” the stranger weakly held his head up, leaning his head back.

“You’re in Seoul,” Kyungsoo said.

“What year?”

“2019?”

The man let out a huge and loud sigh. “I got out then.”

“Doctor, it’s me,” Kyungsoo said.

The man turned to him. “You know who I am?”

Kyungsoo fervently nodded. “Yes. You came to me when I was a little boy. You brought me to a museum!”

“Did I?” the man, Doctor, asked weakly. His eyes seemed unfocused and there was a dazed look on his face. “Must’ve been the future me. I can’t remember you,” the Doctor tried to stand but he slid back to the ground. His legs felt like rubber and he wanted to hurl. “Can you guys help me back in? I need to get away from here as soon as possible. They might be after me.”

“Who?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Kyungsoo, let’s just help him back inside,” Jongin hissed.

He draped the man’s arm on his shoulder as Kyungsoo took the other and they helped him back inside.

But Jongin stopped and almost dropped the man on the ground. “Whoa…but how? It’s bigger on the inside!” Jongin exclaimed.

“Time And Relative Dimension In Space,” Kyungsoo said. “In short, the TARDIS! It’s his spaceship! It’s how he travels!”

“Spaceship? Travel? Where?”

“Didn’t you read my books, Jongin? He’s a time traveler! An alien! He's a Timelord and the last of his kind!"

“Whoa, slow down, slow down,” Jongin said. “And we need to put him down.”

They found a chair near the center of the place.

“Whoa, look at that,” Kyungsoo can’t help but admire the console of the TARDIS. “He told me once before that he’ll take me to the TARDIS.”

“Okay, Kyungsoo. I want answers. Who is that man and what the hell is happening?” Jongin asked.

“That’s the Doctor.”

“Doctor what?”

“Doctor who, not doctor what. And I don’t know his name. He just told me to call him the Doctor,” Kyungsoo said as he rounded the console, examining at the buttons and lights.

The TARDIS shook and the door suddenly closed. They can feel that they’re moving.

“Oh god, I have motion sickness,” Jongin said as he closed his mouth tightly.

“Pull the lever.”

They turned to the Doctor. He was pointing at something on the console, but before he could say anything more, he lost consciousness again.

“What did he say?” Kyungsoo shouted over the noise the console was making.

"He said to pull the lever!" Jongin screamed back. He was tightly holding onto the railings, afraid that he might fall or vomit. And he doesn’t know which was worse.

“Which lever?! There are many levers!”

“I don’t know! Just anything!”

Kyungsoo pulled at one very big lever. The TARDIS shuddered and again there was the sound that they heard in the garden. Then, everything went still and quiet apart from some beeping.

Jongin couldn’t hold it anymore so he rushed to the doors and opened them so he could throw up outside.

“Ah…Kyungsoo?”

Kyungsoo saw his boyfriend outside so he followed him and gasped.

“We’re no longer in Seoul, are we?” Jongin said.

One minute it was almost midnight and they were in Kyungsoo’s garden.

But now, it was midday and they were standing on a beach. Kyungsoo looked around and found nothing but rocks and cliffs.

“Where the hell are we?”

****

It took two hours for the Doctor to finally wake up. But he couldn’t move as his hands and feet were bound on the chair.

“Oi, what is this?” the Doctor pulled at his restraints.

“Kyungsoo was against it but we need answers. We’ll only free you once you gave them to us,” Jongin said.

“You said you knew me though! Why am I bound like this?” the Doctor looked at Kyungsoo.

“Don’t talk to him. Don’t look at him. Answer me. Who are you and where did you take us?”

“Show me the monitor,” the Doctor said.

Kyungsoo reached up the console and turned the monitor to where the Doctor can see.

“We’re still in Seoul. But in a different year,” the Doctor read the inscription written on the image being shown. “Year 5019. Huh. That was quite a jump.”

“Seoul? What do you mean 5019? As in 5019? Three thousand –”

“ – years into the future. Yes, yes, keep up. Didn’t your boyfriend tell you anything?”

"So we traveled in time?" Jongin asked. "But why does the land look so barren? What happened to the city? What happened to everything?”

“That’s what I have to figure out! Untie me!” the Doctor shouted.

“Who are you?” Jongin demanded.

“I’m the Doctor.”

“Doctor who?”

The Doctor giggled despite his situation. “I love it when they ask that. I’m the Doctor and that’s that. You don’t want to know my name, human. So untie me so I can show you something that will make you understand.”

Jongin looked at Kyungsoo who nodded. Jongin approached the Doctor and cut his bindings. The Doctor sprang up immediately.

“Great. I’ll have to check first, okay?” the Doctor said. “I still have hair, complete set of teeth,” he ran his tongue on his teeth. The Doctor ran to the console to look at his reflection. “Still not a redhead!”

Jongin looked bewildered. He looked at Kyungsoo for help but Kyungsoo just shrugged.

“Doctor?” Kyungsoo called. “You promised us answers?”

“Right,” the Doctor punched some buttons then images filled the monitor. "I'm the Doctor, hello. And I'm a time-traveling alien with two hearts. These," the Doctor swiped on the screen for the images to move, "were my faces before. When Timelords are at the brink of death, we regenerate into a whole new person. I just regenerated when you saw me."

"So you were dying when we saw you?" Kyungsoo asked.

"Yes. I got a little run-in with nasty Daleks when I was having a drink with Liz 1st. Yes, Queen Elizabeth the 1st, I think she fancies me, don’t ask. And don’t look too scandalized,” he pointed at Jongin. “Got a little too cocky, almost died, regenerated and tada!”

“There are ten faces there,” Kyungsoo pointed.

“Yes! This is my 11th regeneration.”

Jongin has had enough. “This is ridiculous,” Jongin spoke. “Can you just take us home please?”

The Doctor looked at Jongin then to Kyungsoo and then back to Jongin.

"What's wrong with you?" the Doctor asked. "You are inside a time machine, talking to an alien, and you've traveled three millennia into your future and all you want is to go home?"

“It’s dangerous, you said it yourself. You’ve been chased at. Killed at! If we go with you, we’ll just put ourselves in danger and we don’t want that,” Jongin said. “Right, Kyungsoo?” But Kyungsoo’s eyes were pleading. “Oh come on!”

“Just this once, Jongin? All my life I was told that he wasn’t real. That all those stories…that all those memories in my head weren’t real. And now he’s here. He’s real. He was really real. I wasn’t just crazy. I wasn’t sick…so please, Jongin. Just this once, please?”

Jongin was conflicted. This… _The Doctor_ just admitted that someone just tried to kill him. And they know nothing about him. He could be dangerous or danger could be upon him. But he looked at Kyungsoo and he remembered how he was laughed at, how he struggled, how he was told repeatedly that he was sick in the head.

Jongin sighed. “Fine.”

“Yes!” Kyungsoo leaped to Jongin’s arms.

“Excellent!” the Doctor exclaimed. “Well then,” the Doctor said. “Let’s go exploring shall we?”

But when they opened the door, military men were pointing their guns at them.

“Is the Doctor in?” one of the men asked.

“Ah…which doctor do you ask of? One is a real doctor while the other is just a name?” the Doctor asked.

The men just gave them looks then lowered their weapons.

“Follow us,” one commanded and they marched off.

The three looked at each other.

“Well, now we have tour guides and we’re tourists!” the Doctor chirped.

“Tourists?” Jongin asked. “More like prisoners.”

Kyungsoo held Jongin’s hand and squeezed. “It’s going to be okay.”

They were led inside a military tent.

“He’ll be with you shortly,” the soldier sent them inside the tent and left the three of them before the Doctor could even ask who will be joining them shortly.

"So we traveled three thousand years into the future and Seoul has become…dead?" Kyungsoo asked.

“Seems like that,” the Doctor said as he took out his sonic screwdriver which was emitting a strange noise as he pointed it at the various things in the tent. “It looked like Earth changed a bit.”

“So in the future…what will happen?” Jongin asked.

“Now that is a very dangerous question you got there…I don’t even know your name,” the Doctor pointed out.

“Doctor, since you can’t remember me, I’m Do Kyungsoo and this is Kim Jongin, my boyfriend,” Kyungsoo introduced.

“Oh! A kissing partner then,” the Doctor said.

“That’s not what a boyfriend is just for…” Jongin shook his head.

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t understand the concept of a boyfriend at all.”

The three turned to see someone standing at the opening of the tent. He was dressed like a soldier but he doesn't any have insignia on him nor his name or rank stitched to his uniform.

“Hello, sweetie,” the man greeted, smiling at the Doctor. “Oh, so it’s this timeline that you changed faces. Oh, everything’s going to be interesting from now on.”

“Suho…of course it’s you,” the Doctor gritted his teeth but there was amusement sparkling in his eyes. “He’s the one who beaconed us here,” he told Jongin and Kyungsoo who just looked at them in confusion. “Why did you bring us here?” he asked Suho.

“I need your help,” Suho said as he gestured outside, waiting for the three to come out of the tent. When all of them were outside, Suho spoke to a communicator. “Are you lot in orbit? I’m going to send you a signal and use it as your beacon,” then he turned to the Doctor. “Doctor? Can you sonic me? I need to boost my signal.”

The Doctor begrudgingly pointed the sonic screwdriver at Suho’s communicator. Suho gave him a mocked-bow before walking away to get a good signal.

“What’s happening?” Jongin asked. “Who is he and what did he mean he needed your help?”

“That’s what we are trying to find out,” the Doctor replied. “Whatever happens, you two only listen to me. Got it?” He waited for the two to nod before following Suho.

“So we have a minute,” Suho told the Doctor. He pulled out a blue battered notebook from his cargo pocket and flipped on the pages. “So where are we? Have we done the _Bone Meadows_ yet?”

Kyungsoo tried to peek into the notebook but the Doctor yanked him away. “Stay away from it.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“It’s his diary,” the Doctor grumbled.

“Our diary,” Suho said.

“His past…my future,” the Doctor sighed. “Time travel. We kept meeting in the wrong order.”

“But who is he?” Jongin asked. “And you haven’t even introduced us to him yet.”

“Jongin, Kyungsoo, this is Professor Suho —” the Doctor belatedly realized his mistake.

“A professor! I’m going to be a professor in the future? How exciting. Spoilers,” Suho winked at them. “Kyungsoo and Jongin, hello. This is the first time you met me but I have met you before.”

“What? When? How?” Jongin asked.

"In the future. That is your future. My past. Ah, they’re here,” Suho walked towards where three people suddenly materialized out of nowhere.

“Do people just do that here in the future? Appear out of nowhere like magic?” Jongin asked.

“There’s no such thing as magic, don’t be absurd," the Doctor chided. "They've used vortex manipulators."

Kyungsoo was about to ask what a vortex manipulator was but the Doctor was already walking towards where Suho was talking to the new arrivals. So Jongin and Kyungsoo just wordlessly followed him.

“You promised me an army, Suho,” the oldest of the three men spoke.

“No, I promised you an equivalent of an army,” Suho said. “This is the Doctor.”

“Father Justin, sir. Bishop, second class,” he shook the Doctor’s hand.

“Can any of you please explain what’s happening here?” Jongin asked. “You said we’re in Seoul but not a bit of trace of Seoul is in here!”

All looked at Jongin.

“First time to travel through time,” the Doctor said. “But he has a point.”

“Seoul has long been occupied by Aplans, two-headed creatures, around a millennium ago,” Suho explained. “Around 400 years ago, their entire race had been wiped out. No one ever knew how. But right now, the human race is back here and currently has a population of six million for Seoul alone.”

“You’re telling us that Seoul was…taken over by aliens?” Kyungsoo asked.

“No, no,” Suho said. “Through Intergalactic alliances and politics, humans left Earth a long time ago to live on other planets or in space. It’s only now that they’re slowly coming back.”

“That’s…that’s a lot to take in,” Kyungsoo said.

“But why do you need him here?” Jongin pointed at the Doctor.

“Suho was helping us with a covert investigation. Has he explained what we’re dealing with?” Father Justin asked.

“Let’s go to the drop module, there’s something I want you to see,” Suho said.

Before they can proceed, a soldier was running towards them. “Sir, are the medics on their way? There was a premature explosion and injured some of our men. We need to have them immediately checked.”

“I’m a doctor,” Jongin raised his hand. “Sort of.”

“You’re a veterinarian,” Kyungsoo told him quietly as he lowered Jongin’s hand.

“How different can it be?” Jongin replied in the same hushed tone. “Besides, all the talk about space and time travel is making me sick again. I better be in my element. I’ll be back,” he kissed Kyungsoo’s forehead. “Show me where they are,” Jongin said and followed the soldier away.

Kyungsoo watched with pride as Jongin walked away. He found it hot when Jongin's bossy and all professional.

When he turned, he saw Suho looking at him funnily. The Doctor and Father Justin were long gone towards the module but it was only Suho who remained.

“What?” he asked Suho.

“Nothing,” Suho shrugged. “Come on.”

The drop module was a small metal compartment room, like a small command center. Once inside the drop module, Suho directed them to a television monitor.

“Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?” Suho asked.

“I’ve encountered them before,” the Doctor replied. “But they were weak, just scavengers barely surviving. Why?”

“I was in the _Byzantium_ ,” Suho said. “A luxury ship known to have a secret hiding in its vault. So I was sent to check it. And I found this,” Suho turned on the screen. It was a video clip of an angel statue with its back on them and hands on its face like its weeping. "Sorry about the quality but I just ripped it off from their surveillance camera in a hurry. It's a four-second video but I had it looped."

“Where’s the _Byzantium_ now?” the Doctor asked.

“Burning,” Father Justin answered. “It crash-landed here, in the Temple of the Aplans. I was sent here to breach the crashed ship and neutralize the Angel trapped in its vault. There’s a local population near the temple and we can’t endanger them.”

“No, we can’t,” the Doctor said.

“I’m sorry, but why do you seem scared at that?” Kyungsoo pointed at the video. “It’s just a statue.”

"A Weeping Angel, Kyungsoo, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life-form evolution has ever produced,” the Doctor explained. “Right now, one is currently trapped inside the ship and I’m asked to climb in and stop it.”

“But that’s just a stone!” Kyungsoo said.

“When you see it, it’s just a statue but when no one’s looking, it moves. Or so the legends say,” Suho said.

"No, it's not a legend, it's a quantum lock. In sight of any living creature, the Angels cease to exist. They just turn to stone. The ultimate defense mechanism," the Doctor stated. "How do we get to the ship?"

“There’s a labyrinth of tombs in the nearby cliff,” Father Justin said. “We will blow up a small portion of the cliff to make an entrance to the labyrinth. The ship landed on the top of the temple. We can get there through the labyrinth. I’m just going to see the progress now, excuse me,” the bishop said as he left.

“He’s a bishop but an army also?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Yes, and the soldiers are his clerics, the Church has moved on,” Suho said. “I found something that can help us fight the Angels, hang on,” Suho also left the drop module.

“Is Suho your husband?” Kyungsoo asked the Doctor when they were alone. “You said he’s from your future. And the way he just talks to you…He’s kind of like, ‘Heel, boy!’ Is he Mr. Doctor in the future? Is he going to be your husband one day?”

“Doctor? Sweetie, I need you!” Suho called from the outside.

“Oooh, he needs you,” Kyungsoo teased.

“Shut up,” the Doctor said. “Go find Jongin and you two stay inside the TARDIS.”

“That’s no fun!” Kyungsoo called after the Doctor. “Does anybody need me?” but no one answered back. He rolled his eyes and watched the video again. But something was wrong. The video before has the Angel on its back to them. But right now, its head was slightly turned. “Did Suho have any other clip of the video?” Kyungsoo took his eyes off the screen to look for the remote. He found it and when he looked back, the Angel was already fully facing him, its hands outstretched. The door suddenly closed and the lights started flickering.

Outside, Suho handed the Doctor a book. “This was written by a mad man. Barely readable but I highlighted some things that might help us,” he said. The Doctor flipped on the pages and skimmed over. “How early is this for you?”

“Very early,” the Doctor replied. “I just regenerated hours ago.”

Suho gasped. “Your 11th regeneration! So you don’t know who I am yet?”

“There’s something wrong with this book,” the Doctor said. “And how do you know it’s me when I keep changing my face?”

"I keep all the photographs of you, so I know."

“Where’s Kyungsoo?” Jongin has finally joined them.

“He’s inside the module, D—” Suho stopped himself. “He’s inside, Jongin.”

Jongin nodded and proceeded to the module.

“Why are there no pictures?” the Doctor asked as he furiously flipped the pages. “If this book is a warning about the Angels, why no pictures? Why not show us what to look out for?”

“There’s something about images,” Suho pointed on the page that the Doctor just skimmed.

Jongin hurried back to them. “Help! Kyungsoo’s trapped inside! I can’t open the doors and he said that the Angel is moving, that the Angel is with him. What’s the Angel?”

The Doctor found what Suho meant. “The image of the Angel becomes the Angel itself!” he slammed the book to the ground and ran towards the module. Suho and Jongin followed. “Kyungsoo? Kyungsoo, can you hear me?”

_“Doctor? The Angel…it’s here! It’s here with me inside!”_

Jongin and Suho tried opening the door again but it wouldn’t budge.

“I’m getting you out of there, Kyungsoo!” Jongin said.

“It’s deadlocked!” Suho said. “What are you doing?” he asked the Doctor who was pulling out some wires beside the door.

“Trying to shut the power out inside,” the Doctor said but let out a frustrated groan. “It’s also deadlocked.”

_“Jongin! Jongin, I’m scared! What will it do to me?!”_

“I’ll get you out of there!” Jongin pushed the door with his body now.

"Stop, you’ll injure yourself,” Suho said.

“I need to get him out,” Jongin kept pushing.

_“Doctor? What will it do to me?”_

“Kyungsoo, don’t take your eyes off the Angel. Don’t ever blink! Turn off the monitor!” the Doctor instructed from outside.

_“I tried! It won’t work! It keeps turning on! And the lights are turning off! Doctor, it’s near me now!”_

The Doctor ran to pick up the book again and ran back to the module. “Kyungsoo, don’t look at the eyes of the Angel! Look at the Angel but not the eyes! An image of the Angel becomes the Angel itself! Don’t look at its eyes.”

“Why? What will happen?” Suho asked.

“Eyes are not windows to the soul. They’re doors. Beware what may enter there,” the Doctor said.

“What does that mean?” Jongin asked, briefly pausing to catch his breath then he started pushing at the door again.

_“Doctor, what did you say about the image of an Angel again?”_

“That whatever holds the image of an Angel becomes an Angel itself.”

Jongin was getting tired. But when he pushed the door again, it opened and he was thrown inside the module.

“Jongin!” Kyungsoo hurried to him and helped him stand.

“Kyungsoo! Oh my God!” Jongin hugged him fiercely. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine,” Kyungsoo said, choking back the tears.

“How did you do it?” the Doctor asked as he sonicked Kyungsoo to check if he was indeed alright.

“You said that whatever holds the image of the Angel is an Angel itself. There’s a blip on the video. I just timed turning off the monitor on the blip.”

“You are brilliant!” the Doctor said as he kissed Kyungsoo’s forehead. Then he froze, slightly turning to Jongin. “Sorry, gotten carried away.”

“You better,” Jongin said, sounding a little jealous, pulling Kyungsoo to him.

They heard a little explosion outside and Father Justin emerged from the door. “It’s ready, sir. We can go in now.”

“You two, stay in the TARDIS. I mean it,” the Doctor said.

“You need us there,” Jongin told him. “You don’t have any medics with you. I could be of help.”

“Me too…I could…be of help too,” Kyungsoo added, trying to think what he can help them with.

The Doctor just looked at them. He turned to Suho who just shrugged.

“Fine. But promise you’ll follow whatever I’ll say,” the Doctor told them. The two nodded in agreement.

Kyungsoo filled Jongin in about everything that Suho and the Doctor had told him. They were making their way inside the labyrinth, also known as the Maze of the Dead, full of statues of the Aplans. The Doctor said that the trapped Angel was smart because what better way to hide other than in a place full of statues. It was dark inside but the Doctor kicked some ball into the air where it stayed high above and providing light. The Doctor said it was called a gravity globe. Other than it helps keep their feet on the ground, it can also act as light.

Kyungsoo was just looking at Jongin who was busy talking to Father Justin, giving the bishop instructions about the wounded soldiers he had just tended too. Kyungsoo felt something in his eyes so he tried to rub it off. When nothing came out, he rubbed it off again since it was irritating him. But sand came down from his eyes to his hand. Startled, he checked his hand but there was nothing there.

“You okay?”

Kyungsoo jumped at the voice. Suho was looking at him earnestly. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Give me your hand,” Suho said. Kyungsoo gave him his hand and Suho pulled at the sleeve to expose the skin. He raised a vaccine-looking like object. “This is a viro-stabilizer. It will stabilize your metabolism against radiation. You’re going to need it when we get to the ship. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt,” Suho said. He stabbed the stabilizer on the arm which made Kyungsoo yelp.

“Ow!”

“Sorry, I lied,” Suho said. “I’m a doctor, so it’s in my nature.”

“You’re a doctor too?” Kyungsoo asked as he pulled his sleeve back.

“Yeah, like my father before me,” Suho said.

“Wait,” Kyungsoo said. “What’s the Doctor like in the future?”

“He’s…the Doctor,” Suho just simply said.

“But are you two married?”

Suho chuckled. “This is the Doctor we are talking about. Do you think it is as simple as that?”

“Yep.”

“You’re good,” Suho said. “I’m not saying you’re right but you are very good.”

“What are you two talking about?” Jongin had joined them.

But before any of them could respond, gunshots were fired and rang inside the temple. The Doctor immediately ran towards where shots were made and found a trembling soldier, his gun pointed at a statue.

“I’m sorry, I thought it was looking at me,” the soldier whimpered.

“Bob,” Father Justin approached. “According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of the unknowable power and infinite evil, so it would be good if we could remain calm in the presence of danger.”

The Doctor clapped the bishop’s shoulder and approached the soldier. “Bob, is it? Nice name, Bob.”

“It’s our sacred name,” Father Justin said. “We all have sacred names. They’re given to us in the service of the Church.”

“Well, it’s Scared Bob now, is it?” the Doctor said. “It’s okay Bob, being scared is okay. Anyone in this room who isn’t scared is a moron. Being scared will keep you alive, so don’t worry, okay? It will be fine.”

“You stay here and guard the approach,” Father Justin said. “Report to us any movements.”

“Yes, sir,” Bob said.

The party carried on the labyrinth. Both the Doctor and Suho felt a nagging feeling that something was amiss and it was obvious to their faces but they just can't see it.

“Are we there yet?” Jongin asked.

“The labyrinth is six floors. We still need two up,” Kyungsoo said. “Come on,” he held Jongin’s hand.

They entered into a small cave full of Aplan statues. That was when the Doctor and Suho realized their grave mistake.

“Oh my god…” Suho exclaimed.

“How could we miss it?” the Doctor said as he turned to the bishop. “Nobody move! Father, I’m sorry. I was mistaken. And we are in terrible danger.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Father Justin asked.

"The Aplans…they were two-headed creatures," Suho replied.

“Yes, we know,” the bishop replied.

“Then why do all the statues on this temple only have one head?” the Doctor asked.

All of them pointed their flashlights on the statues. They indeed only have one head.

“Everyone over there,” the Doctor pointed to the four soldiers who were apart from them. “Come behind us, quick!” When the soldiers were already behind him, he asked them to turn off their flashlights. Only his flashlight was providing light in the place.

“Doctor, are you sure?” Suho asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Okay, all of you listen to me, I’m going to turn off my torch. But only for a second. When I turned it back on, turn your torches on also and point them on the statues. Ready?”

When he heard assent, the Doctor turned off his flashlight for a second. When he turned it back on, all the statues were now facing them, now looking a lot like the angel statue.

“Oh my God,” Father Justin muttered a prayer.

“The ship crash-landing here wasn’t an accident, it was a rescue mission,” the Doctor explained. “We always wondered what wiped out the Aplans, now we know what. The statues…if you look at them, they were losing their form. They were dying, starving for centuries when they wiped out the entire race. But the radiation from the crashed ship is giving them power. They are slowly regaining their strength. We are in the middle of an army of Weeping Angels. All of the statues in this maze are Weeping Angels. And they’re waking up. An they’re coming for us.”

Father Justin raised a communicator to his mouth. “Bob, do you copy?”

_“Go ahead, sir.”_

“Bob, all the statues here are active. I repeat, all are active. Get Christian and Leo out of the approach and proceed outside and warn the camp.”

_“I’m sorry, sir, but Leo and Christian are dead. I just saw them. I thought that they were alive because they radioed me but when I came to them, they were dead. Their necks were snapped, sir. I saw the Weeping Angel before them.”_

The Doctor grabbed the communicator from the bishop. “What do you mean snapped their necks? That’s not how an Angel kills. It feeds on your remaining timeline. It kills you by sending you back in time. So why did it snap their necks? Unless it needed the body.”

_“Very good, sir. An Angel doesn’t have a voice. I’m running towards where you are now, sir.”_

“Bob, how did you escape the Angel?” the Doctor asked.

_“I didn’t, sir. It also killed me. Snapped my neck. It was painful but at least it was very quick.”_

“So when you said you’re running to where we are…”

_“It’s the Angel, sir. It needed a voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. I’m sorry for the confusion.”_

“Bob, one quick question. When you said the Angel, did you mean the one in the ship’s vault?” the Doctor asked.

_“Yes, sir. Why do you ask, sir? I’m very near you now, sir”_

“Then it means that the Angel is no longer in the vault,” the Doctor said. “Everybody run!” the Doctor shouted.


	2. Stay, Raggedy Man

After hearing the exchange between the Doctor and the Angel, and the Doctor shouted for them the run, everybody sprinted apart from Kyungsoo and Jongin.

“Kyungsoo?” Jongin turned when Kyungsoo didn’t move. “Kyungsoo, let’s run.”

“I can’t,” he cried.

“Why?”

“My hand,” he looked at his hand that was holding onto a wooden railing. It has turned into gray and he could barely lift it. “Look at my hand, it’s made of stone now.”

“No, it isn’t,” Jongin said. He heard movement and when he looked at behind Kyungsoo, more statues were moving and advancing on them.

“It is. Go, run! Save yourself!”

“I’m not leaving without you!”

“You’ll die if you stay here with me! Just go!”

“You can move! Tell your mind you can move!”

“I can’t!” Kyungsoo sobbed. “Whatever the Angel did to me, it’s working. Go now! You’ll die with me here!”

"What's the point of living if you're gone, Kyungsoo?" Jongin said. "But I'm sorry."

“Why?”

But Jongin didn't answer. Instead, he bent down and bit on Kyungsoo’s hand, hard.

“Ow!” Kyungsoo let go of the railing.

“See, not made of stone. It was the Angel in your head making you think that you’re turning into stone,” Jongin said as he pulled Kyungsoo and they started to run.

“Look at the mark on my hand!” Kyungsoo complained.

“You’re alive,” Jongin retorted.

“It will leave a mark!”

“And you’re alive. Did I tell you that?”

They reached where the Doctor and the others were. Kyungsoo looked up and stared in awe. Just above them was the haul of the ship that crashed.

“We’re trapped,” one of the soldiers said. All the exits were surrounded by Angels. And their torches were slowly dying out.

_“Doctor, are you there?”_

“What do you want, Angel Bob?”

_“It’s no use, Doctor. You’re surrounded now.”_

“Doctor, no pressure but this is the part where you usually have a really good idea,” Suho said.

“There’s always a way out,” the Doctor said looking around the area.

_“There isn’t. I’m sorry. And Doctor? The Angels are very keen to let you know something.”_

“What?” he hissed on the communicator. The Angels were advancing on them now.

_“I died in fear, sir. You told me that my fear would keep me alive but I died afraid, in pain and all alone. You made me trust you and when it mattered, you let me down.”_

“What are they doing?” Jongin asked.

“They’re making him angry,” Suho answered. “An angry Doctor tends to make the most irrational decisions.”

The Doctor gripped the communicator tightly, his jaw set and his eyes hard. “Well then, the Angels made their second mistake because I’m not going to let that pass. I’m sorry you’re dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, the Angels will be sorrier.”

_“But you’re trapped, sir, and you’re about to die.”_

“Yeah, I’m trapped. And you know what's the first mistake you made? You made a mistake when you made the trap,” the Doctor looked at Kyungsoo and Jongin. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” Kyungsoo replied.

“I have no choice, do I?” Jongin said.

“Do you trust me?” the Doctor turned to Suho.

“Always,” Suho replied.

“Do you trust me?” the Doctor finally asked the bishop.

“Yes, sir.”

“Give me your gun, then,” the Doctor said. “I’m about to do something stupid and dangerous. When I do, jump!”

“Jump where?” Jongin asked.

“Just jump as high as you can. Come on, leap of faith. On my signal.”

“What signal?” the bishop asked.

“You won’t miss it,” the Doctor raised the gun and pointed it upwards.

_“I’m sorry, can I ask again? You mention a mistake we made?”_

“Oh, a big mistake. Huge. Didn’t anyone tell you there’s one thing you should never put in a trap? If you’re smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never ever put in a trap,” the Doctor said.

_”And what is that?”_

”ME!”

The Doctor shot at the gravity globe floating above their heads. When it exploded, all of them jumped and they were sucked into the ship, like metals on a magnet.

"Oh, this is brilliant!" Suho exclaimed, finally standing up.

“What just happened?” Jongin asked.

“Look up,” Kyungsoo said.

When Jongin did, his knees almost buckled. Good thing Kyungsoo was near him so he held on to him. The ground he stood on seconds ago was now above their heads. They were standing upside down on the ship.

“The ship’s gravity control is still working. That’s what’s keeping us upright,” the Doctor opened a hatch. “Ah-hah! Everyone hop in!”

Once everyone was inside, they rushed towards the round metal doors which were now closing as emergency protocols of the ship were activated when they opened the hatch. The hatch closed but they weren’t able to reach the doors in time.

“Okay, nobody panic,” the Doctor said. But when he turned, everyone was just calm. “Oh, it’s just me then.”

“Can you open the doors?” Suho asked.

“It’s automatic deadlocked due to the emergency protocols. It’s impossible,” the Doctor answered.

“How impossible?”

“Two minutes,” the Doctor said.

The hatch opened again and this time, Angels were slowly creeping in.

“What help do you need?” Jongin asked.

“I can open the doors but I have to turn off the lights to do it,” the Doctor said.

“So we open fire at the Angels to provide light. How long?” Jongin asked.

“Just a moment.”

“We’ll have your back, Doctor,” Father Justin said. “Do you know how to shoot, sir?” he offered Jongin a gun.

“I think,” Jongin took the gun and positioned himself with the soldiers.

“Kyungsoo, rotate the wheel four times to open the doors,” the Doctor said.

“Ten.”

“No, four,” the Doctor repeated.

“I know, I said four,” Kyungsoo said as he held the wheel.

They were all in positions. The Doctor counted to three before he switched off the power. Kyungsoo rotated the wheel and the door opened. Everyone immediately scrambled inside. But they were faced with another door. The lights now kept on flickering.

“They’re draining the power,” the Doctor said. “Where are we?”

“Secondary flight deck,” Suho looked at his portable computer.

“So we’re basically in the ship’s chimney. So when the power fails?” Kyungsoo asked the doctor.

“I’ve thought of it.”

“And?”

“We’ll plunge to our deaths! See, I thought about it!” the Doctor said.

The doors opened again and they were led into a control room. The clerics put magnet locks on the door to keep the Angels from opening it. It didn’t work as the wheels still keep rotating but it was buying them time.

“How long do we have?” Suho asked the Doctor.

“Five minutes, max,” the Doctor said.

“Nine.”

“Five,” the Doctor said. Everyone turned to Kyungsoo.

“Yeah, five,” Kyungsoo nodded.

“Why did you say nine?” the Doctor asked. Kyungsoo looked at him in confusion.

“We need to get out of here,” Jongin said.

“There’s no way out,” Father Justin said.

The Doctor looked around the room because there's always a way out. There has to be. "This is a galaxy ship. Goes for years between planets. So, what do they need?"

Whatever the Doctor meant gave hope to the others because Jongin and Kyungsoo saw them going about the room as if searching for something.

“This is a sealed unit,” Suho said. “But they must’ve installed it. Clamps!” Suho pointed to the floors. “Release the clamps and we shall see!”

The clerics unlocked the clamps and the metal wall slid up to reveal a forest within the ship.

“Oxygen factory!” the Doctor exclaimed.

“It’s a forest!” Kyungsoo said in awe.

“Yeah, that’s basically an oxygen factory,” Jongin said. “What’s out there?”

“An escape route, I hope,” the Doctor said as he let Father Justin get out first to inspect the floor plan of the forest.

“Eight.”

“What did you say?” Jongin asked Kyungsoo.

“Nothing. I didn’t say anything,” Kyungsoo said. “Trees on a spaceship?”

“They’re not just trees,” the Doctor said. “They are treeborgs. Trees plus technology. A forest sucking in starlight and turning them into air. It even rains. It has a mini-climate. Do Kyungsoo, have I impressed you yet?”

Kyungsoo giggled at the Doctor’s excitement. “Seven.”

“You said seven,” the Doctor’s expression turned solemn.

“I didn’t.”

“You did,” Jongin said. But before they could ask further, Father Justin came back.

“There’s a way out,” Father Justin said. “There’s an exit towards the Primary Deck. Once we reach it, it will be easy to navigate the ship.”

_“I’m sorry, Angel Bob here. Doctor?”_

“Ah Angel Bob,” the Doctor spoke to the communicator as he sat on one of the chairs in the room. “How’s life? Sorry, bad topic.”

_“The Angels are wondering what it is you’re trying to achieve, sir.”_

“Achieve? We’re not trying to achieve anything, Bob. We’re just hanging out here. It’s nice here. Consoles, comfy chairs, forest. How’s things with you?”

_“The Angels are feasting, sir. Soon, we will be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world and the stars and beyond.”_

“Well, I got comfy chairs, did I mention that?” the Doctor turned in his chair towards Kyungsoo and winked at him.

_“We have no need for comfy chairs, sir.”_

“I made it say comfy chairs,” the Doctor giggled.

Kyungsoo giggled with him. “Six.”

The Doctor abruptly stood up. “Okay, enough chat, Angel Bob. What did you do to Kyungsoo?”

_"There’s something in his eye.”_

“What’s in his eye?”

_“We are.”_

Jongin immediately went to Kyungsoo, cradled his face in his hands and examined him. But he can’t seem to see anything wrong.

"I'm five," Kyungsoo said. "I mean, five," he looked desperately to Jongin and the Doctor. "I'm fine! I said I’m fine!”

“You’ve been counting,” the Doctor just realized now. “You’ve been counting for a few minutes now.”

_“We shall take him. We shall take over all of you.”_

“Get a life, Bob. Oops, sorry again. I know there’s power on this ship, Bob, but nowhere near what you needed.”

There was suddenly a screeching sound all around them that made them jump and cover their ears.

“What the hell was that?” Suho demanded.

_“The Angels are laughing, sir. Because you haven’t noticed it yet, sir. The Doctor in the TARDIS hasn’t noticed it.”_

“Doctor,” Father Justin called.

“No, wait, there’s something I missed,” the Doctor said. When he turned around, he saw a huge crack on the wall with light emanating from it.

“That’s…that looked like the crack from my wall. It has a similar shape,” Kyungsoo said. “Am I right, Jongin?”

“You’re right.”

“That’s not a crack on the wall, that’s a crack in time,” the Doctor said. “Two parts of space and time that should never have touched.”

“We’re moving out,” the bishop commanded and his men started to file out from the deck.

“Yes, take them. Suho, Jongin, and Kyungsoo follow Father Justin. I'll be right behind you."

The party minus the Doctor made their way into the forest but Jongin noticed the Kyungsoo was dazed and he was barely moving now.

“Kyungsoo, are you okay?”

“Four.”

Kyungsoo then sat on a huge rock and gently laid on his side.

“Med scanner, now,” Suho called to one of the clerics who handed him a little device. He pointed it at Kyungsoo.

“What’s happening?” Jongin asked.

“Hold on, I’m having trouble reading his vitals,” Suho said.

“We have to move,” Father Justin said.

“We wait for the Doctor,” Suho answered.

“Our mission is to make this wreckage safe and neutralize the Angel.”

"Father Justin, when the Doctor is in the room, your only mission is to keep him alive long enough to get everyone else home. Trust me, it isn’t easy. Now, if he’s dead back there, I’ll never forgive myself. If he’s alive, I’ll never forgive him,” Suho said. “And he’s standing behind me, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” the Doctor answered for him.

“I hate you,” Suho turned to him.

“No, you don’t,” the Doctor joined them. “Bishop, the Angels are in the forest. They almost got me but the crack in time distracted them so I just told them it’s the end of time and then I ran,” the Doctor said.

“But what is that crack?” Jongin asked.

“The end of time,” the Doctor said as he took the med scanner from Suho.

“How is he?” Jongin asked.

“He’s fine,” Suho readily replied.

“No, he’s dying,” the Doctor said. “What good would it do if we lie to him?” Below him, Kyungsoo whimpered.

“Doctor, I’m scared.”

“Of course you’re scared. You’re dying, so shut up. I need to think,” the Doctor said.

Jongin wanted to stand up and punch the Doctor but Kyungsoo gripped him tightly, calling out his name.

“He stared at the Angel for too long and a living mental image is in his head. There’s an Angel in his mind,” the Doctor kept rambling.

“Three,” Kyungsoo sobbed. “Doctor, it’s coming. I can feel it. I’m going to die.”

“Shut up, I’m thinking. Now the counting,” the Doctor raised the communicator to his mouth, “Angel Bob, what’s with the counting? Why did they make him count?”

_"To make him afraid, sir.”_

“Yes, but why?”

_"For fun, sir.”_

The Doctor stared at the communicator for a moment then he threw it on the trees in blind fury.

“Doctor, please, tell me what’s happening?” Kyungsoo begged. Jongin felt so helpless as he just sat there and can’t do anything.

“There’s an Angel in your head. It’s like a screen, a virtual screen inside your mind and the Angel is climbing out of it. It is coming to shut you off,” the Doctor explained.

“What do I do?” Kyungsoo’s voice was broken. He can feel it in his body.

“If it was a real screen, what would we do? We’d pull the plug. We’d kill the power. But we can’t knock him out, the Angel would just take over. But we got to starve the Angel. How do you starve your lungs?”

“I’d stop breathing,” Jongin said.

“Doctor, he has seconds,” Suho warned as the med scanner was beeping since Kyungsoo’s vitals were crashing.

“Kyungsoo, close your eyes,” the Doctor said. But Kyungsoo shook his head. “You have to. The Angels are telling you not to close your eyes because they don’t want you to. Do it, Kyungsoo. Trust me. You promised to always listen to me.”

Kyungsoo slowly fluttered his eyes closed. The med scanner stopped beeping now and his vitals were back to normal.

“He’s normalizing,” Suho declared.

The Doctor sighed and Jongin sagged in relief, resting his forehead on Kyungsoo’s.

“Don’t open your eyes, Kyungsoo. Not even for a second, okay?” the Doctor said.

“Doctor, we need to move, the Angels are advancing on us,” Father Justin said.

“We can’t move Kyungsoo,” Suho said.

“We can’t stay either.”

“This is a huge ship, there ought to be teleportation pods, yeah?” the Doctor asked Suho.

“Yes, yes, you’re right,” Suho’s expression brightened at the thought of teleportation pods.

“Jongin, I need you to come with us,” the Doctor said.

“No, I’m not leaving Kyungsoo alone here,” Jongin said brushing away the tears that escape from Kyungsoo’s eyes.

“He won’t be alone. The rest of the soldiers will be here with him. Once we get to the Primary Deck, we will teleport them from here. Come on, we need more able bodies,” the Doctor said.

“Go on, I’ll be fine here,” Kyungsoo said, his eyes still closed. “Just come back for me, okay?”

Jongin took a handkerchief from his pocket, not noticing something falling off to the ground. The Doctor noticed this and picked it up. He wanted to give it back to Jongin but he can sense the two were having a moment so he put it in his pocket and walked to where Suho and Father Justin were talking, or more like arguing.

“I’m going to put a blindfold on you, okay?” Jongin said.

“Biting and blindfolds, you got a lot of kinks, sir.”

Jongin chuckled as he securely tied the handkerchief around Kyungsoo’s head. “Only you can make a joke even at the brink of death. What am I going to do with you?”

“Well, I have a list but we’ll talk about it once we’re out of here.”

Jongin tapped Kyungsoo’s cheeks then kissed his forehead. “I’ll be back.”

Jongin walked towards where the others were waiting for him. And they departed.

Kyungsoo was waiting in silence when he felt someone holding his hands.

“Kyungsoo.”

“Doctor?”

“Kyungsoo, you need to start trusting me. It’s never been more important.”

“But you don’t always tell me the truth.”

“If I tell you the truth, I wouldn’t need you to trust me.”

“Doctor, that crack in time…that was the same crack on my wall, wasn’t it? Why is it here? Is it following me?”

“I don’t know. I’m still working it out,” the Doctor said.

“Stay, Raggedy Man,” Kyungsoo whispered.

The Doctor kissed Kyungsoo’s forehead. “Now listen, remember what I told you when you were ten?”

“What did you tell me?” Kyungsoo asked.

“No, no, that’s not the point. You have to remember.”

“Remember what?” Kyungsoo asked. He felt hands slipping from his and then silence. He called for the Doctor but he received no reply.

The party of four was making their way into the Primary Deck with the Doctor fiddling on the portable computer that he borrowed from Suho.

“What’s that?” Suho asked.

“Readings from the crack in the wall,” the Doctor asked.

“How can the crack in the wall be the end of the universe?” Jongin asked.

“I don’t know,” the Doctor said. “But here’s what I think. One day, there’s going to be a very big bang. So big every moment in history, past and future will crack.” The computer beeped and it was showing them a date.

01-13-2020

“That’s a wedding date,” Suho said.

“It’s just a date but how do you know it’s a wedding date?” the Doctor asked.

“It’s my dream date for our wedding. Mine and Kyungsoo’s.” It was Jongin who answered. The Doctor and Suho turned to him. “It’s the perfect date. January 13th. His birthday is on the 12th while mine is on the 14th. We always celebrate the 13th as our day. But next year, I want it to be our wedding day.”

Before any of them can react, Father Justin called. “The Primary Deck. I’ve managed to open a small entry for us.”

The three approached the deck and Jongin and Suho immediately climbed in to work on the teleportation pods.

“Doctor, are you alright?” Father Justin asked when the Doctor didn’t follow him.

“The crack in time...time running out…time being rewritten…why didn’t I notice this before?” the Doctor rambled.

“Doctor, we need to move. The Angels could be here any second.”

“The Angels are the least of our worries now. There’s worse than Angels.”

The lights coming from the trees flickered out and when they turned back on, an Angel was holding Father Justin on a choke-hold.

“I beg to differ,” the bishop squirmed under the Angel’s hold.

“Let him go,” the Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the Angel.

“Well, it can’t let me go, sir, can it? Not while you’re looking at it.”

“I can’t stop looking at it, it will kill you,” the Doctor said.

“It’s going to kill me anyway. Think it through, there’s no way out of this. You have to leave me.”

“Can’t you wiggle out?”

“Too tight,” Father Justin replied. “Sir, you need to go.”

“I can’t!”

“Listen to me, it’s important. Don’t trust Suho,” Father Justin said. He stretched out his hand and handed a communicator to the Doctor.

“What? Why?”

"He's locked up in Stormcage Prison, the maximum-security prison for crimes against time-traveling. He's out because I asked for his services and he's working on his pardon,” the bishop said.

“Why was he in prison? What crime did he commit?”

“He killed a man. A good man. A great man to some, a hero to many,” Father Justin replied.

“Who?”

“That’s all you need to know. So, please go now. Save this planet. Save your friends. I will die in the knowledge that my courage did not desert me at the end. For that, I thank God and I will bless the path to your safety.”

“I wanted to know you better, Father.”

“Sir, I think you know me at my best.”

The Doctor can see it. The bishop has accepted his fate. “Ready?”

“Content.”

The Doctor gave him a salute then ran towards the entrance. He heard the snapping of bones before he closed the access.

“Where’s Father Justin?” Jongin asked.

“He’s dead,” the Doctor replied with quiet anger. “How are we on the teleportation pods?”

“The wires have been severed,” Suho replied. The Doctor cursed.

_“Doctor?”_

“Kyungsoo? Where are you? Are the clerics with you?” he spoke on the communicator that Father Justin gave him.

_“They’re gone, Doctor. They went one by one to the crack in time but they didn’t come back. And the weird thing was, they can’t remember their comrades who went first. How did that happen?”_

"Time running out," the Doctor replied. He sounded tired like all his energy was being zapped out of his body. "Sorry, Kyungsoo but I made a mistake. I never should've left you there."

“I’m going to get him,” Jongin walked towards the access but Suho stopped him.

“You can’t. Angels are outside everywhere!”

“I can’t just leave him!”

“Kyungsoo, listen to me. You need to come to us,” the Doctor spoke.

_“But I can’t see! I can’t open my eyes!”_

“Turn on the spot. Just do it. When the communicator sounds like my screwdriver, that means you’re facing the right way. Follow the sound. You have to move now. Time energy is spilling out of the crack and you have to stay ahead of it.”

_“But the Angels, they’re everywhere!”_

"I'm sorry. I am. But the Angels can only kill you," the Doctor's knuckles were turning white from holding his anger in. "If the time energy catches up with you, you'll never have been born. It will erase every moment of your existence. You will never have lived at all. Now keep your eyes shut and start moving.”

“It won’t work,” Suho commented.

“WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU GOT?!” the Doctor exploded. “TELL ME, SUHO! TELL ME!”

They heard several banging on the top of the deck.

“What’s that?” Jongin asked.

“The Angels, they’re running from the fire. The time energy is feeding on them. They’re running away,” the Doctor said. “Kyungsoo, I’m sending a software on your communicator. It’s a proximity detector. It’ll beep if there’s something on your way and you just have to maneuver until the beeping stops. Kyungsoo, this is important. The forest is full of Angels and you're going to have to walk like you can see. Just keep moving."

“That time energy, what’s it going to do?” Jongin asked.

"Keep eating," the Doctor distracted as he was helping Suho on the teleportation pods. "And the only way to stop it, for now, is to feed it."

“Feed it what?” Suho asked.

"A big, complicated space-time event should shut it up for a while."

“Like a what for instance?”

“LIKE ME!” the Doctor screamed at him.

Kyungsoo was walking blindly in the forest, following the Doctor's instructions. He was doing fine until his communicator beeped uncontrollably.

“Doctor, what’s happening?”

_"It’s a warning. The Angels are around you now. Kyungsoo, listen to me. This is going to be hard but I know you can do it. The Angels are scared and running. And right now, they’re not that interested in you. They’ll assume you can see them and their instincts will kick in. All you’ve got to do is walk like you can see. Just don’t open your eyes. Walk like you can see. You’re not moving, now, are you? You have to do this. Now. You have to do this.”_

But Kyungsoo was scared. He was all alone in a forest full of Weeping Angels. He wished Jongin was with him.

_“Kyungsoo.”_

It wasn’t the Doctor speaking now. It was Jongin.

_“Come on, love. You can do it.”_

“I can’t, Jongin. I’m scared.”

_“I know. I know you’re scared. But you have to be brave, yeah? Can you do that for me? Can you do that for us? Listen to my voice, Kyungsoo. Just listen to my voice and keep moving, yes?”_

Hearing Jongin’s voice, Kyungsoo started to move, the beeping of the communicator continued until it was already faint.

_“That’s it. You’re doing good, baby. Kyungsoo, I need to tell you something.”_

“What?”

_“I love you. I’ve loved only you. I love you the most. I’m sorry for doing it this way but I just wanted to tell you.”_

“Jongin,” Kyungsoo sobbed. “I need to tell you something too.”

_“Tell me when you’re here.”_

“No, I need to tell you now,” Kyungsoo said. But he tripped on a stone and fell forwards, letting go of the communicator.

_“Kyungsoo?”_

“The communicator! I can’t find it,” Kyungsoo scrambled on the dirt to find the device. “I can’t see. I can’t open my eyes. I can’t find the communicator.”

_“Kyungsoo, don’t speak! The Angels can hear you!”_

But it was too late, the Angels already heard him and were now turning on him, reaching out to him. Kyungsoo stood up and turned around, eyes still closed. An Angel was just inches from his face until he was falling.

“I got you! Don’t open your eyes. But you’re safe now.”

The teleportation pods finally worked and they were able to send Jongin to where Kyungsoo was and teleported them back to the deck.

“Jongin!” Kyungsoo clung unto Jongin tightly.

“Ow, ow, I can’t breathe!”

“I told you, it would work,” Suho told the Doctor.

“Suho, I could bloody kiss you,” the Doctor collapsed on the floor in relief.

“Hmm, maybe when you’re older,” Suho smiled.

The power in the deck was draining. According to the Doctor, it could be the Angels doing it as they were looking for some sort of power to feed on.

The wall of the deck suddenly opened and there were a lot of Weeping Angels standing by. One was holding a communication device. Behind them was the time energy slowly creeping on them.

“Let me guess,” the Doctor stood up. “Angel Bob.”

_"The Time Field is coming. It will destroy our reality.”_

“Yeah, and look at you all running away from it. Why are you here now? What can I do for you?”

_"There is a rupture in time. The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close and they will be saved.”_

“You’re right but why would I do that?” the Doctor asked. Around them, alarms were blaring indicating several systems shutting down.

_"Your friends will be saved.”_

“There’s that,” the Doctor said.

"Doctor, I've traveled in time. I'm a complicated space-time event too. Throw me in," Suho said.

“Oh, be serious,” the Doctor said, a little amused at the fact the Suho was readily willing to take his place in the sacrifice. “Compared to me, these Angels are more complicated than you, and it would take every one of them to amount to me, so get a grip.”

“Doctor, I can’t let you do this,” Suho said with more force.

“No, seriously, get a grip.”

“You’re not going to die here!”

“No, Suho, get a grip! Now!”

Suho looked around the deck to see a lot of warning signs now flaring. One of which was ‘Gravity’. “You’re a genius!” Suho rushed to Jongin and Kyungsoo and told them to hold onto something tightly.

_“Sir, the Angels need you to sacrifice yourself now.”_

“The thing is, Bob," the Doctor walked until he was near the console and held on the handlebar. "The Angels are draining all the power from this ship. Every last bit of it. And you know what? I think they've forgotten where they're standing. I think they've forgotten the _gravity_ of the situation. Or to put it in another way, Angels. Night night.”

The blaring got louder and then it was as if something released them and they were falling sideways. The four held on tightly and the Doctor watched as all the Angels started falling and were being sucked in by the Time Energy. The crack closed when the last of the Angels were sucked in. The Doctor reached up towards the console and pushed a button. The wall was sealed and they fell to the ground.

They waited about two hours until they were finally rescued by the remaining troops of Father Justin.

“Ow, my body hurts,” Kyungsoo groaned. He can finally open his eyes.

“Well nobody told you to keep your eyes closed after. The Doctor said it was safe to open them,” Jongin said as he wrapped Kyungsoo in a blanket. They were now sitting outside the medical tent since Kyungsoo was complaining that it was too stuffy inside.

“But how did that happen?”

“The Angels were sucked in the crack,” the Doctor joined them. He just did a debriefing to all the remaining soldiers. “Meaning, the Angel in your head was erased from existence. Meaning, that it never existed before.”

“But those clerics…they can’t remember each other but I can remember them. How does it work?” Kyungsoo asked.

“They weren’t from your timeline," the Doctor said. "You met them through time traveling. It's an anomaly. You never should've remembered them in the first place because you've never should've met since they belong in your future. But to the clerics, they share the same timeline. And they were being erased from there.”

“I’ve come to say goodbye,” Suho approached them.

Kyungsoo got up and embraced him. “Thank you, Suho.”

“It’s nothing, F—” Suho stopped himself. “You’re welcome.”

“Are you going home now?” Jongin asked.

“In a way,” Suho smiled up at him.

“Take care, okay? And stay out of trouble,” Jongin clapped his shoulder.

Suho stood on tiptoe and kissed Jongin on the cheek. “I’m sorry.”

“For?” Jongin touched the cheek where Suho just kissed him.

Suho shook his head. “Spoilers,” then he turned to the Doctor. “Doctor, can you walk with me please?”

The Doctor nodded. “So you’re in Stormcage.”

Suho was not surprised that the Doctor knew it but he was disappointed that he wasn’t the one who told him. “Please don’t tell them where I should be taken.”

“Why not?”

Suho looked at where Jongin and Kyungsoo stood. It looked like they were having a little argument. Suho smiled.

“Father Justin said you killed a man. Is it true?” the Doctor asked.

The smiled faltered in Suho’s lips. “Yes.”

“A good man.”

“A very good man. The best man I’ve ever known.”

“Who?” the Doctor asked.

“It’s a long story, Doctor. It can’t be told. It has to be lived. No spoilers. No previews. Well, except this one. You’ll see me again when the Pandorica opens.”

The Doctor gave a hard laugh. “The Pandorica. That’s a fairy tale.”

“Aren’t we all?” Suho smiled. “I’ll see you there.”

“Can I trust you, Suho?” the Doctor asked, the bishop’s words echoing in his head.

“If you like,” then Suho looked up. “Oh look, they’re beaming me up. See you, sweetie.”

Suho and the rest of the troops were being beamed up towards a spaceship above them.

The spaceship then left.

“Time can be rewritten,” the Doctor whispered. Then he went back to the bickering couple. “So, how does it feel like to have saved the world?”

“I don’t know, but it kind of has a nice ring to it if I put that in my resume. But maybe we could go to a beach or mountain this time,” Jongin said. “I think saving the Earth once is enough to last me a lifetime,” Jongin added.

“You still want to travel with me even after everything?” the Doctor asked.

“Duh,” Jongin just said.

Kyungsoo giggled beside him. “Thank you, Jongin, for agreeing.”

“Hey, I kind of love it too,” Jongin smiled. “But you promise to return us to that exact time you pick us up?”

“Why are you so determined about that?” the Doctor asked as he fiddled with his key to open the door of the TARDIS.

“Well...that’s…personal,” Jongin mumbled.

“Jongin has a curfew,” Kyungsoo said.

"AH-HAH!" the Doctor exclaimed. In his excitement, he accidentally threw away the key. "Why does a grown-ass man have a curfew?" the Doctor went to where the key went and searched for it on the ground. “Why do you still have a curfew when you’re already engaged?”

“We’re not engaged,” Kyungsoo said.

The Doctor crouched down when he spotted the key. "Gotcha!" then he turned to the two. The Doctor pulled something out from his breast pocket. "What do you mean you're not engaged? So what were these rings on this bo—"

Jongin rushed to the Doctor and covered his mouth with his hands. He didn’t even notice that the box fell from his pockets.

“What? What do you mean rings?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Nothing. He means nothing. He’s just talking gibberish,” Jongin said.

But Kyungsoo wasn’t listening anymore. He noticed something behind Jongin and the Doctor, there on the ground behind them. “The crack…it’s back…”

“What?” the Doctor turned around. “Why is it back?”

“THIS IS YOUR FAULT!”

The three turned around to find one of the clerics, one of those that Jongin tended earlier, badly bleeding from his injuries, pointing a gun at the Doctor. He must’ve hidden when the soldiers were being beamed up. “He could’ve lived! Father Justin would still be alive if not for you! I heard everything! I heard Suho saying that you left Father Justin to the Angels.”

“Soldier, stand down,” the Doctor said.

Jongin assessed the situation. He was too far away to tackle the soldier. And Kyungsoo was also out of reach from him. But Kyungsoo had his hand stretched out to him and Jongin did the same, their fingers almost touching.

“IT SHOULD’VE BEEN YOU WHO’S DEAD!”

The cleric fired at the Doctor.

“NO!”

Jongin tackled the Doctor to the ground.

Kyungsoo watched in horror as Jongin and the Doctor fell to the ground. The cleric succumbed to the floor and Kyungsoo ran and kicked the gun away from him. Then he ran to where his boyfriend and the Doctor had fallen.

“Doctor! Doctor, are you alright?”

“He’s hit,” the Doctor said.

It was then Kyungsoo saw that Jongin was bleeding badly. “OH MY GOD! JONGIN!” He pushed the Doctor off of Jongin and rolled him on his back. “Jongin…Jongin...oh my god…can you hear me? Jongin?”

“Kyungsoo?” Jongin reached out. His vision was blurry and there was an immense pain on his side. “Am I dying?”

"NO! NO, YOU'RE NOT!" Kyungsoo shouted, panicking that Jongin had stopped breathing and had closed his eyes. "Doctor, do something!"

The Doctor was about to pull Jongin up but the light from the crack was slowly creeping out and now seeping towards Jongin’s feet.

“Kyungsoo, move away from Jongin,” the Doctor pulled at Kyungsoo instead.

“NO!”

“KYUNGSOO!” the Doctor shouted and he pulled Kyungsoo up with much force. He managed to yank him up and away from Jongin.

“NO! LET ME GO!!! JONGIN!!! NO!!!!”

The Doctor was able to get Kyungsoo inside the TARDIS. He closed the door and hurried to the console, preparing to depart.

“Fix it, Doctor!” Kyungsoo screamed inside the TARDIS. “Save him! Save Jongin!”

“I can’t, Kyungsoo,” the Doctor said. “The light touching him…I’ve told you what it is. Jongin is being erased from history.”

“NO!” Kyungsoo ran back to the door and tried to open it so that he can get Jongin back. “NO! OPEN THIS DOOR! I NEED TO GET HIM! OPEN THIS DOOR!”

The Doctor pulled Kyungsoo away from the door and sat him on the chair. “Kyungsoo, that light touching him. We can’t have that touching us too or we’ll also be erased from existence.”

“THEN I DON’T CARE,” Kyungsoo screamed, gesturing wildly at the door. “OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR AND LET THE LIGHT TAKE ME TOO! LET ME OUT!!”

The Doctor took Kyungsoo in his arms, locking him in place, hugging him tightly. “Kyungsoo, please. You don’t know what you’re saying. That’s grief talking. And Jongin wouldn’t want that to happen to you.”

“Doctor, please,” Kyungsoo gripped the Doctor’s back and cried hard on his shoulders. “I can’t live without him. What’s the point in living if he’s not here? I don’t want to live without him. Fix this. Please, fix this. I can’t lose, Jongin. Please. I can’t lose him,” Kyungsoo sobbed.

“You’re the only one who can save him, Kyungsoo,” the Doctor said. “He’s alive in your memory. As long as you remember him, he will live. Everything that can be remembered can come back. So remember him, Do Kyungsoo. Remember him. Remember Jongin. Remember loving, funny, warm Jongin, eh?”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes and tried to remember. Every touch. Every feeling. The first time he saw Jongin. The first time they spoke. That one time that Jongin gave him his ice cream. That one time that Jongin gave him his umbrella when it was raining hard. It was always Jongin taking care of him. It was always Jongin who…who…

“I can’t,” Kyungsoo cried desperately as his memories of Jongin are slowly disappearing. “I can’t do it!”

“You have to, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo tried again, saying Jongin’s name over and over again. Jongin who told him he loves him. Only him. That he loves Kyungsoo the most. And Kyungsoo wasn’t able to say it back yet. To say ‘I love you’ back yet. He wasn’t even able to kiss his boyfriend, the one he’s dying to kiss.

Jongin…Jongin…Jongin…

An explosion inside the TARDIS threw them both on the floor. The TARDIS was agitated and itching to fly away from the light.

The Doctor got up and immediately steered them away. When they were safely away, he returned to help Kyungsoo up. “You okay?”

“Ow,” Kyungsoo held his head, which he felt was splitting into two. “What happened?”

“Kyungsoo, do you remember Jongin?”

Kyungsoo stood on wobbly legs and looked at his hands, which were bloodied, which confused him. Was someone injured? He didn’t feel anything unusual apart from a splitting headache. The Doctor seemed fine too, though he looked shell-shocked.

“I need a hot bath,” he said and made his way towards the stairs.

“Kyungsoo, do you remember Jongin?” the Doctor repeated.

“Jongin? Who’s Jongin?”

The Doctor took a sharp breath and watched in silence as his companion was swaying his way towards the stairs.

“Doctor, I need to rest. I think my head is about to explode. But when I wake up, we will go to Michael Angelo when he was painting the Sistine Chapel! I want to see that! Promise you’ll take me there!”

The Doctor can still hear Kyungsoo moaning and groaning as he made his way to his room, which the Doctor has pointed him to. The Doctor took the velvet box from his pocket. He opened the box, his two hearts breaking at the two rings sitting inside it.

Two rings that will never be worn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The episodes which this chapter was based from are (1) Flesh and Stone and a little bit of (2) Cold Blood.


	3. Run, Raggedy Man

Kyungsoo has been having the best time of his life!

He has been traveling through space and time. He went to the past and shook hands with his favorite authors (he even managed to convince Mr. Doyle to bring Sherlock Holmes back to life). He met with his favorite painter, Vincent Van Gogh, and inspired one of his paintings. He went further to the future and saved a whale in space, fought space pirates and even met the Liz 10, the Queen of England in the very far future.

But even if he was having the best time of his life, Kyungsoo has that nagging feeling that something was missing…or someone. He kept looking around him every time he found something funny or amazing like he can’t wait to tell it to someone. But he can’t remember who it was.

"Doctor, how long have we been traveling?" he asked the Doctor who was reading a book beside the console.

“Time isn’t a concrete concept. It is –”

“Oh, six months!” Kyungsoo pointed at the monitor. “You kept a record of everyone who comes aboard the TARDIS?” Kyungsoo reached up to turn the dial on the monitor but the Doctor swatted his hand away.

“Oi, no touching on the console,” the Doctor said.

Kyungsoo pouted but he stepped away and let the Doctor do his thing.

“Where do you want to go next?”

Kyungsoo pointed at the opened book beside the TARDIS console. “The Hanging Gardens of Babylon! It's…someone's favorite wonder of the world…I don't know who…Doctor, did I forget someone?"

“Why do you ask?” the Doctor asked as he reached for the velvet box in his pocket. It has been in his pocket for six months.

“Nothing…it’s just…do you know that feeling when you leave your room but there’s always something missing...like you’ve forgotten something…”

“Nope, I have a sharp memory!” the Doctor responded cheerily as he pushed some buttons on the console and the TARDIS came alive. “The Hanging Gardens of Babylon! Ah! Good choice!” the Doctor pulled some levers, punched some more buttons and they were hurled into the time vortex.

A phone inside the TARDIS was incessantly ringing.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?”

The Doctor waved his hand off. “It’s always bad news.”

The TARDIS shuddered badly, then landed with a bang, more noisily than before.

“Oi, what’s wrong with you?” the Doctor asked his TARDIS. He pulled his sonic screwdriver to check why his TARDIS was acting up.

Kyungsoo hurried to the door, excited to see the Gardens. But when he opened it, he wasn’t prepared for what he saw. “Ah…Doctor?”

“Yes? What?” the Doctor asked distractedly as he still was trying to figure out what was wrong with his TARDIS.

“Were there already Romans during Babylon?”

“Romans?” that got the Doctor’s attention and he hurried to Kyungsoo. “Holy…Romans.”

Before them, a legion of Romans was setting camp.

“Romans…I always wanted a Roman. My favorite topic in History class. The invasion of hot Italians,” Kyungsoo’s eyes feasted on the soldiers walking past them, not seeming to mind that they were there.

“Oi!” the Doctor covered Kyungsoo’s eyes.

A soldier ran to them and bowed. “Hail, Caesar!”

Kyungsoo and the Doctor looked at each other. Then the Doctor looked at the kneeling soldier before them. “Arise…Roman person.”

The soldier stood up, his expression seemed dazed. There was smeared lipstick on the corner of his mouth. “Mark Anthony is waiting for you, sir,” he said as he turned and left, expecting the company to follow him.

“Why did he think you were Caesar?” Kyungsoo asked. “And why are there Romans in Babylon?”

The Doctor shrugged. “Why don’t we follow the lad and get our answers?”

The soldier led them to the grandest tent amongst the tents in the camp. The soldier lifted the curtain and the Doctor and Kyungsoo entered.

"Hello, sweetie."

“Damn it, Suho,” the Doctor can’t help but say but there was a smile on his face.

“Suho!” Kyungsoo ran towards Suho and hugged him tight. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Hello, Kyungsoo. Where’s Jongin?” Suho asked as he looked around looking for the third person.

“Who’s Jongin?” Kyungsoo asked.

Suho looked towards the Doctor. The Doctor shook his head at him.

“No one…” Suho replied.

Kyungsoo was about to inquire more but the Doctor spoke first.

“What the hell, Suho! Did you bring the Romans here in Babylon?”

“Of course not, sweetie,” Suho replied sweetly. “They were already here when I arrived.”

“How did you convince them you’re Marc Anthony and the Doctor is Caesar?” Kyungsoo asked.

Suho raised a small tube, looking similar to Kyungsoo's favorite brand of strawberry lip balm. "Hallucinogenic lipstick. Works wonders."

“Did you kiss your way to the top?” the Doctor scoffed.

“Just the important ones,” Suho replied. “Why you jealous?”

“Ha! Why would I be?” the Doctor said. “Now why have you brought us here? You can’t always do that, okay? You can’t just bring us to where you’ll be!”

“Oh, shush, it’s the TARDIS that brought you here,” Suho said. “Doctor, there’s something you needed to see.”

Suho went behind the throne-like chair where he just sat to retrieve a rolled canvas. He led Kyungsoo and the Doctor on the large table and unrolled the canvas.

“Winston Churchill called using the number you gave to him for emergencies. He was trying to reach you but his call was diverted to me,” Suho explained. “He said that this was discovered in a secret vault of a wealthy British family, they said it was one of Van Gogh’s lost works and was included in the collection of Liz 10. Your friend Vincent, he had visions, didn’t he? He saw the future. I think he wanted you to see this.”

“What is it?” Kyungsoo peered over their shoulders.

It was definitely Van Gogh’s, the stroke and the style. It looked like a closed-up version of the _Starry Night_ only that there was the TARDIS in the middle of the painting.

An exploding TARDIS.

The Doctor was looking intently at the painting. It was indeed his TARDIS in the painting but what he can’t understand is why it was exploding.

“Does it have a title?” the Doctor quietly asked.

“The Pandorica Opens,” Suho answered.

The Doctor looked at him in question. “These numbers…” he pointed at the bottom right portion of the canvas where Van Gogh’s signature was supposed to be.

“Coordinates,” Suho handed him his portable computer. “I already encoded it and it will lead us straight there. Men!”

Three soldiers immediately went inside the tent. "Yes, sir!"

“Ready our carriage. We will depart shortly,” Suho said.

In the carriage, Kyungsoo can’t help but admire the beauty that is the Gardens. Someone told him this before that it was the only wonder in the world that has no exact location. And now he’s finally seeing it.

“Are you okay?”

Kyungsoo turned to Suho, who was looking at him worriedly.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” he smiled at him. “So, Doctor, what’s a Pandorica?”

“It is said to hold the most feared thing in the Universe. It’s a box…a cage…a prison…but it’s a fairy tale. Just a legend. It’s not real,” the Doctor said.

“If it is real, then it is here and it’s opening. And it’s related to your TARDIS exploding,” Suho said.

They arrived at the coordinates as stated in the portable computer but there was just nothing but stone columns slowly devoured by vines and roots.

“There’s nothing in here,” Kyungsoo said. The sun was already setting.

“No...there has to be," the Doctor said. He approached one of the columns and ran his hand on it as if looking for something. "If you're trying to hide the most feared object in the universe, you need to secure its location. And of course, you must be able to locate it. Ah!” the Doctor said triumphantly as he pushed a section of the column.

The ground beneath their feet shifted and moved. It opened to reveal a stone staircase going down.

“After you?” Suho gestured towards the dark place.

The three descended the stairs. Suho lit the torches that were on the stone columns by the stairs. They walked further inside and saw a huge stone box, twice their heights and ten times their width. There were circular designs on each of its faces.

“The Pandorica,” Suho whispered. “It’s real.”

The Doctor carefully approached the box and touched it. The moment he did, the box glowed from the inside and they can hear machine whirring from the inside.

“What are you?” the Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver and went around the box to get a reading. “Suho, you warned me about the Pandorica. You said you’ll meet me when it opens.”

“Spoilers, sweetie,” Suho said as he fiddled with his computer. “Doctor, I got readings. Energy particles being released here. Like some weapon discharge.”

“You know in every story, there’s always a trickster, a goblin, a monster who is soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. Nothing could stop it, hold it or reason with it,” the Doctor said.

“How was it stopped?” Kyungsoo asked.

The Doctor patted the box. “A good wizard tricked it.”

“I hate good wizards in fairy tales. They turn out to be the real villains,” Suho said.

“So it’s like Pandora’s box then?” Kyungsoo asked. “They almost share the same name.”

“What?” the Doctor turned to him.

"You know, the story of Pandora's box. It said to hold everything evil. It's my favorite story when I was a kid. What's wrong?" Kyungsoo asked since the Doctor stepped too close to him like he was examining him.

“Your favorite topic, your favorite story, the date," the Doctor said as he intently gazed at Kyungsoo's eyes as if the answers to the questions in his head were there. “Never ignore a coincidence. Unless you’re busy which in this case, I am,” he left Kyungsoo to examine the box again.

“Can you open it?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Easily,” the Doctor replied. “But I’d rather know first what I’m going to face.”

“It’s opening, Doctor. Layers and layers of security protocols being unlocked. It’s opening from the inside,” Suho said as he read of the readings from his computer.

“What kind of locks?”

"All of it. Deadlocks, time stops, matter lines, and the list goes on," Suho answered.

“What would need all that?” the Doctor mused.

“What could get past all that?” Suho added.

“Something probably very terrible,” Kyungsoo offered.

“It’s something more than that,” the Doctor said, slowly getting frustrated. He doesn’t like unsolved puzzles and the giant box before him was one. "Can you imagine the level of fear in making this prison?"

“Why is it opening now?” Kyungsoo asked.

“No idea,” the Doctor replied as he rounded the box once again.

“How could Vincent know all of these? He wasn’t born for centuries before this,” Kyungsoo said.

Suho and the Doctor stopped what they were doing to look at Kyungsoo. Then they looked at the stone columns around the dark room.

“These stones,” the Doctor trailed off. “They’re transmitters. Broadcasting a warning to everyone in the universe. Broadcasting to everyone that the Pandorica is opening. And poor Vincent was able to see it in his dreams.”

“Doctor, everyone everywhere?” Suho asked at little more alarmed.

“What’s inside you?” the Doctor poked the stone box. “What could justify all of this?”

“Doctor, when you said everyone could hear it, who else is coming?” Suho repeated.

It was only then that the Doctor finally realized Suho’s question. “Oh.”

Suho cursed in a language Kyungsoo has not heard of and both time-travelers were fiddling with their computers.

“Readings?” the Doctor asked.

“Around this planet, there are at least ten thousand ships. A hundred. Millions. I can’t get a proper read. Too many readings coming in,” Suho said.

The Doctor sonicked Suho’s computer so they can hear the readings.

_“Maintaining orbit. Launch temporary armaments protocol.”_

The distorted voice of the Daleks rang loud and clear in the room.

_“Course correction proceeding.”_

The mechanical voice of the Cybermen rang out.

“Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Terileptil, Slitheen, Chelonian, Nestene, Drahvin, Sycorax, Haemogoth, Zygon, Atraxi, Draconian. They're all here for the Pandorica,” Suho said.

“So basically all beings that hated me,” the Doctor said.

“Hated you? What do you mean hated you?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Hush, I’m thinking,” the Doctor said. “They’ve got battleships, their weapons pointed at us. But they won’t have the element of surprise! They won’t expect three people to attack them because we’ll be dead. That will be a very short surprise. Forget the surprise.”

“Then just run, Doctor,” Kyungsoo said. “If everyone out there wants to kill you, then you must run. I know you are brilliant and all but you can’t face them all.”

“Run where?”

“Fight how?” Suho asked.

“By having the greatest military machine in the history of the universe,” the Doctor said.

“What?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Romans,” the Doctor answered. “Suho, use your convincing powers to let the Romans march here. When you’re done, go to the TARDIS and bring it here. I might be able to open the Pandorica faster using the TARDIS.”

“What are you trying to do?” Kyungsoo inquired.

“All of them came for whatever is inside the Pandorica. If I can stop whatever is inside this box, then problem solved.”

Suho left to do what the Doctor just told him. The Doctor didn’t notice when the velvet box from his pocket fell off when he was checking the Pandorica again. Kyungsoo saw it fell and retrieved it. He was supposed to give it to the Doctor but something stopped him. He opened the box to find two rings in it.

He pulled out the smaller ring to find an inscription. Initials similar to his name and another set of initials _KJI_. He tried to fit it in his finger. It was a perfect fit.

There was a sudden ache in his chest and a dull throbbing in his head. Then it was like he can hear someone calling his name.

A laugh. A smile. A warm hug.

He hastily lifted the ring off his finger and placed it back in the box and approached the Doctor.

“Are you proposing to someone?” Kyungsoo asked as he showed the Doctor the velvet box.

The Doctor plucked the box from Kyungsoo’s hand and securely placed it in his breast pocket. “No...uhm...it’s my friend’s. Someone that I lost.”

“It’s weird...I don’t know,” Kyungsoo said, still looking at where the Doctor hid the box. “There’s something…”

“People sometimes leave but they always leave traces behind. Little things that we can't quite account for. Faces in photographs, unpacked luggages, half-eaten meals, rings," the Doctor tapped his breast pocket. "Nothing is ever forgotten, not really. And if something can be remembered, it can come back."

Kyungsoo tried to digest the Doctor’s words then he remembered the feeling of the cool ring on his finger. “Was he nice, your friend?”

The Doctor smiled a bitter smile. “Kyungsoo...do you remember when I tried to bring you back home one time? We stayed in your home for an hour. We argued before going there that you must return home but when we got to your house, I decided that you fly back with me.”

“Yeah. I asked you what made you change your mind and you said that there was nothing,” Kyungsoo said.

“Well, I lied. There was a reason.”

“What is the reason?’

“Your house.”

“My house?”

“Your house. It’s too big. Too many empty rooms. Does it bother you, Kyungsoo, that your life doesn’t make any sense?”

But before Kyungsoo could ask the Doctor further, a laser beam almost hit them. They hurriedly hid behind the Pandorica.

“What was that?” Kyungsoo asked in panic.

“I need a proper look, have to give it a target,” the Doctor asked.

“How?”

"You know sometimes I have brilliant ideas?"

“Yes?”

“Sorry,” the Doctor ran towards an open space. “LOOK AT ME I’M A TARGET!”

Another laser beam shot out and the Doctor ran to hide again on the opposite side of the room. “It’s a Cyberarm! Arm of a Cyberman!”

“What’s a Cyberman?”

“Part man, part robot. Its organic part is dying so it’s looking for fresh meat.”

“You mean us?” Kyungsoo asked, scandalized.

“It’s like being an organ donor. Except you’re alive and screaming. Could you draw its fire?”

“What? Just like what you did?”

“Yes! It’s easy! Just be quick! I need to neutralize the arm!”

Kyungsoo geared himself and screamed as he did what the Doctor did. When the arm pointed to him, the Doctor wrestled with it and turned off the arm.

“Fried its circuits but it could be bluffing. Stay where you are, Kyungsoo!”

Before Kyungsoo can move, the arm buzzed and the Doctor seized for a moment before losing consciousness.

“Doctor!” Kyungsoo tried to ran to him but something caught his leg and suddenly he was flat on the ground and being pulled. He can hear heavy footfalls and an armless Cyberman came into view, pulling Kyungsoo towards it. As Kyungsoo managed to break away, something pricked his neck. When he tried to feel it, his hand came across a small metal dart sticking out his neck. His vision has become blurry and his body was becoming heavier. He wanted to call for help but his tongue felt heavy too. He was blindly feeling his surroundings, trying to find something he can hold on to.

The Cyberman kept advancing on him, picking up its arm so it can be complete again.

“S-Stay a-away,” Kyungsoo managed to say. The Cyberman froze in its spot before crumpling to the ground. “W-who’s t-there?”

A centurion was standing behind the fallen Cyberman, his gladius sticking out the Cyberman’s neck. The centurion took off his helmet.

“Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes rolled back in his head as he fell.

The centurion managed to catch him before he hit the ground and gently laid him down.

“Sir, the man is coming around,” one of his soldiers said.

“Kyungsoo!” the Doctor hurried to Kyungsoo’s body and sonicked him.

“He’s just out cold, Doctor.”

“Yes. He’s just sedated. He’ll wake up in half an hour,” the Doctor sighed in relief. “Romans, good. How many did Suho send?”

“Fifty, Doctor. Suho was persuasive but it wasn’t enough.”

“Fifty, you’re not even a legion,” the Doctor said as he stood up and went to check the Cyberman.

“Doctor?”

“Hush, Jongin, I’m trying to think,” the Doctor said. “Why was a Cyberman guarding the box? Unless it’s a Cyberthing inside it. But why would they lock up one of their own? So not a Cyberthing then!” he marched back to where Jongin was now standing over Kyungsoo’s sleeping form. “I’m missing something obvious, Jongin! Something big! Something right in front of my face!” he went back to the Cyberman again to check it was indeed dead.

“Yeah, I think you probably are.”

The Doctor froze. Then he slowly made his way back to Jongin. He prodded Jongin’s armor. “Hello.”

“Hello,” Jongin said.

“I’m sorry, Jongin...but you died!”

“I know. I was there.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. One thing I was dying and the next time I woke up, I was a Roman!”

The Doctor opened his mouth to scream but no sound would come out. “You didn’t just die! You weren’t even born! You were erased! As if you never existed!”

Jongin was about to ask more but the ground shook suddenly.

“What’s happening?”

The Doctor looked at the Pandorica which was glowing brightly than it did before. “It’s in the final phase. It’s opening,” then he turned to Jongin. “Well, I love to chat more but get your men up there to prepare.”

Jongin looked down on Kyungsoo’s sleeping body. “Did he miss me?”

The Doctor sighed. “No. I’m sorry, Jongin. But Kyungsoo doesn’t even remember you.”

Jongin nodded, trying hard not to cry. It was confusing to him when he woke up in a Roman battle regalia, in a Roman camp, with Romans around him. And Kyungsoo was nowhere in sight. All he ever wanted since he woke up from ‘dying’ was to embrace Kyungsoo, kiss him, talk to him. But they’ve got pressing matters. He climbed up and did what the Doctor said.

_“Doctor?”_

“Hurry up, Suho, I need the TARDIS here,” he spoke to the computer he was holding.

_“You’re being surrounded. Have you got a plan?”_

“I have one.”

_“Doctor, there’s something I need to ask. It’s a matter of urgency. What happened to Jongin? Why can’t Kyungsoo remember him?”_

“You need not worry about being never been born, Suho. Jongin is alive.”

_“He is? Wait, you knew who they are to me?”_

“Yes. But enough chit chat. Bring the TARDIS here now!”

The Doctor marched upstairs to find the Romans setting defense. When he looked up, he saw several lights and heard loud buzzing as spaceships kept flying past their heads.

The sonicked his computer, turning it a megaphone.

“Hello Babylon!” the Doctor spoke, his voice could be heard from miles away. “Who takes the Pandorica, takes the universe. But bad news everyone! Because guess who? Guess who’s got the Pandorica? Answer, I do! Next question, who’s coming to take it from me? Come on! Look at me! No plan, no backup, no weapons! Oh, and something else! I don't have anything to lose! So if you're sitting up there in your ships, with your bombs and your guns and you've got plans on taking on the Pandorica tonight, just remember who's standing in your way. Remember every black day I ever stopped you. And then, and then do the smart thing. Let somebody else try first.”

The spaceships started to slowly retreat leaving the sky quiet and dark.

“That will keep them squabbling for an hour. Jongin, with me,” the Doctor called as they descended back to the Pandorica. Some of the Romans remained while some accompanied them below to stand guard.

“What do we do?” Jongin asked.

“Stop whatever’s in the box,” the Doctor said. Then he looked at something behind Jongin. “Jongin, I’m sorry but you have to be brave.”

Before Jongin could ask why Kyungsoo walked to them.

“My head,” Kyungsoo came forward to the Doctor.

“Go get fresh air,” the Doctor said.

Kyungsoo nodded and when he turned, he saw the centurion he saw before he passed out. "Oh, it was you, right? The one who sworded that thing?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Nice swording,” Kyungsoo patted the centurion’s shoulder before walking up the stairs.

“My men are up there. They’ll keep you safe,” Jongin added.

“Good. Love a Roman!” Kyungsoo managed to say before he was up.

“I’m sorry,” the Doctor can only offer.

“Why can’t he remember me?”

“Make him remember,” the Doctor retrieved the velvet box from his pocket and tossed it to Jongin. “Go get him.”

“But I don’t understand...why am I here?” Jongin can’t help but ask.

“Because you are. The universe is big, it’s vast, complicated and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles. Nine hundred years and I’ve never seen one yet. Until today. So go upstairs and get your man.”

The Doctor watched as Jongin climbed up the stairs and then went back to working the Pandorica.

Jongin found Kyungsoo huddled near the fire and a blanket wrapped around him.

“You found a blanket?” Jongin asked as he approached.

“Oh,” Kyungsoo looked up. “Yeah. One of your men handed it to me?”

“Which one?” Jongin looked around to see who dared walk up and talk to Kyungsoo.

“What’s your name?”

“Jongin.”

“Jongin,” Kyungsoo repeated. He found it very interesting how he said it immediately. Like his lips have spoken them before. "Not very Roman-like. Is it short for Jonginikus?”

Jongin chuckled. But when he looked up, Kyungsoo was crying. “You’re crying.”

Kyungsoo touched his cheeks to find hot tears streaming from his eyes. “Yes. Why am I crying?”

“Are you sad?”

“No,” Kyungsoo sobbed. "I feel like...I'm happy. I am." Overwhelmed, he stood up, the blanket falling from his shoulders.

“Kyungsoo, it’s me,” Jongin could no longer hold it in. “Please, Kyungsoo, it’s me.”

“I don’t know you. I have never seen you before in my life but why do I feel like I should know you?” Kyungsoo tried to walk away but Jongin caught his hand.

“Because you do. You know who I am. It’s me.”

“Why am I crying?” Kyungsoo wanted to shout.

“Because you remember me! I came back! You’re crying because you remember me!”

All around them, the Romans suddenly stopped moving and bowed their heads.

Jongin felt something changing in his body, like a switch was being turned on. He doubled over, trying to stop his right arm from raising.

“What’s wrong?” Kyungsoo asked.

“NO!” Jongin shouted. “I don’t want to go! I am Kim Jongin! NO!”

Kyungsoo watched in horror as the man before him was writhing in pain.

"R-run," Jongin pleaded in a broken voice. "I don't know how long I can hold it. Run. Run away from me."

“Kim Jongin.”

“R-RUN! I’m...something in my head! It’s telling me to kill you! RUN!”

“Kim Jongin. Kim Jongin from Seoul. My boyfriend. How can I forget you?” Kyungsoo crouched down to see Jongin’s face, which was contorted in pain.

“Kyungsoo, please… you have to run!”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving you again.”

Jongin screamed. “No...I’m Jongin! I’m Jongin!”

“You are!” Kyungsoo cradled Jongin’s face with his hands. “The rings...did the Doctor give it back to you? Give me my ring, Jongin. And ask me to marry you. And I will. Let’s get married now.”

“K-Kyungsoo,” Jongin reached for the box his pocket and shakily gave it Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo opened the box and took out the rings. He put on his and slid the other one on Jongin. “This is you. And you are staying.”

“N-NO!”

Both of them watched as Jongin's right hand transformed into a gun.

“Kyungsoo...please...run…”

“No, I’m staying.”

“NO!”

A single gunshot rang across the night and Kyungsoo’s body fell towards Jongin.

***

In the Pandorica’s chamber, the Doctor was having difficulty reaching Suho. Finally, his call came through.

“Where the hell are you?”

_“Doctor, don’t be alarmed. Don’t bring attention to yourself.”_

“Where are you?”

_“Kyungsoo’s house.”_

“Why are you there?”

_“The TARDIS won’t allow me to go where you are. But it brought me here instead. Doctor, those Romans, where are they now?”_

“Upstairs, down here, guarding the entrance. What about them?”

_“Doctor, they’re not real Romans. They’re duplicates. They were extracted from Kyungsoo’s memories. Doctor, remember what he said? His favorite topic, his favorite story...it’s all here in his room. And is Jongin dressed as a centurion?”_

“How did you know?”

_“Because I’m holding a picture of Kyungsoo and Jongin, who is dressed as a centurion. Doctor, it’s all a trap. I saw burnt landing marks outside of Kyungsoo’s house.”_

“Suho, what date did the TARDIS bring you?”

_“January 13th, 2020...oh…”_

“Get out of there now! Land in any other timeline! Just go!”

The Doctor can only hear static on his computer. He tried calling Suho again but there was no response.

The Pandorica finally opened with a final and loud click.

The Doctor stepped back, raised his sonic screwdriver, ready to blast off what was inside the box.

The door opened widely to reveal...nothing but an empty chair.

It was empty. There was nothing inside the box.

“What the…”

Suddenly, the Doctor wasn’t alone in the chamber. The room was suddenly filled with Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans and so much more.

“You have been scanned,” the White Dalek spoke in its distorted voice.

“Scanned by who? The box?” the Doctor asked, looking around for an escape route. Two Romans appeared beside him and held him tightly, dragging him towards the open box.

“The Pandorica is ready,” a Sontaran spoke.

“Ready for what?” the Doctor asked as he tried to get away from his captors.

“Ready for you, Doctor,” the White Dalek replied.

“You...all of you working together...an alliance? What for?” the Doctor continued to stall his captors.

“There are cracks in time across the universe. All reality is threatened. The universe is being deleted,” the Cyberleader spoke in his robotic voice.

“And you’re here to ask for my help?” the Doctor tried to sound confident.

“No, we’re here to save the universe from you!” the Sontaran said.

The Romans managed to pull the Doctor inside the box and latched him on the wires and clamps at the side of the box.

“All projections correlate, all evidence concurs that the Doctor will destroy the universe,” the Cyberleader continued.

The Romans securely tied the Doctor down and then stepped out.

“No, you got it all wrong! It’s my TARDIS! Please! It will explode!” the Doctor cried.

“The Pandorica was made to seal you off,” the White Dalek spoke. “It is confirmed that the Doctor will destroy the universe.”

“NO! Listen to me! Total events collapse! Every sun in the universe will explode! The universe will never have existed! Listen to me!

“Seal the Pandorica!” the White Dalek ordered!

“NO! LISTEN TO ME! THE TARDIS IS EXPLODING AND I’M THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN STOP IT! LISTEN TO ME!” the Doctor shouted as the door of the Pandorica closes.

“The universe will be saved from you, Doctor.”

The Pandorica finally closed.

Above in the skies, the stars started exploding, one by one and all together until none was left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was based on the episode called The Pandorica Opens.


	4. Goodbye, Raggedy Man

While the stars are exploding in the dark skies, Jongin was weeping over Kyungsoo’s dead body. He was on the ground with Kyungsoo in his lap.

"So, the universe is ending. You missed that. I guess you and I will never be born now. Twice in my case. Who does that? Just me. You would’ve laughed at that,” Jongin sobbed. He touched Kyungsoo’s cold face. “Please laugh. Kyungsoo, please,” he buried his face in Kyungsoo’s hair. “The Doctor said that the universe is vast and ridiculous and sometimes there are miracles. I could use a miracle about now.”

There was a sudden loud snap in the air like thunder rolling.

Jongin raised his head to see the Doctor holding a mop in his arm.

“Jongin, listen to me,” the Doctor pointed to Kyungsoo. “He’s not dead. Well, he is. It's not the end of the world. Well, technically it is," it was then he realized the mop in his arm. "Wait, hang on." He pressed something on his wrist and then the Doctor disappeared.

“Doctor!” Jongin called.

The Doctor reappeared again, minus the mop. “Jongin, you need to get me out of the Pandorica.”

“But you’re not in the Pandorica,” Jongin said.

"I am. Well, I am not now but I was back then at this time. Time travel, you can't keep track," the Doctor handed his sonic screwdriver to Jongin who accepted it hesitantly. “It’s very easy to open from the outside. Just point and press.”

The Doctor disappeared again before Jongin could speak. Not a second later, he reappeared again.

“Oh, and when you’re done, put the screwdriver in Kyungsoo’s top pocket. Good luck.”

“Done what?” Jongin asked but the Doctor has disappeared again.

As bizarre as the Doctor’s requests were, Jongin needed to follow them. After all, he promised to trust him. Jongin slowly laid Kyungsoo to the ground, making sure that he was covered completely by the blanket.

“I’ll be back, my love,” Jongin whispered before going down on the Pandorica’s chamber.

Jongin pointed the sonic screwdriver to the Pandorica and pressed. The Pandorica slowly opened to reveal a very surprised Doctor. The cuffs and wires attached to his body detached as the Pandorica opened completely.

“How did you do that?" the Doctor gasped. He was so sure he was never going to see light again.

“You gave me this,” Jongin raised the sonic screwdriver.

“No, I didn’t,” the Doctor reached for his own sonic screwdriver in his pocket and showed it to Jongin.

“You did, look at it,” Jongin stepped back as the Doctor stepped out of the Pandorica.

The Doctor touched the sonic screwdriver in Jongin’s hands with his and both emitted a spark. "Temporal energy. It means the same screwdriver but different points in time. Which means it was me who gave it. Me from the future. I have a future! That's nice," the Doctor exclaimed. "But that's not," he pointed behind Jongin.

The once empty chamber was now littered with fossilized Daleks, Sontarans and Cybermen.

"History has collapsed. Whole races being deleted in the universe. These are but echoes, fossils in time."

“But how come we’re still here? What’s keeping us safe?”

“Nothing. We’re just in the eye of the storm, the last light to go out,” the Doctor said. “Where’s Kyungsoo?”

Jongin hung his head and lead the Doctor to Kyungsoo’s body. The Doctor crouched down and flipped the blanket.

“I killed him,” Jongin cried.

“Oh, Jongin…”

“Doctor, what am I?”

“You’re a Nestene Duplicate, a plastic with delusion of humanity.”

“But I’m Jongin now. Whatever was happening to me, it has stopped.”

“That’s software talking,” the Doctor sighed.

“Can you help him? Is there something you can do for Kyungsoo?”

“Yeah,” the Doctor stood up and walked away. “If I have time.”

“Time?”

“Have you been listening, Jongin? The universe just ended. Think of all the lives that never happened. Your boyfriend isn’t more important than the universe.”

Jongin marched up towards the Doctor and when the Doctor turned, Jongin punched him in the face. “HE IS TO ME!”

“Welcome back, Kim Jongin!” the Doctor held his aching jaw. “Sorry, I had to be sure if it’s you or just the software. Alright, let’s bring him to the chamber.”

Jongin and the Doctor placed Kyungsoo on the chair inside the Pandorica.

“You have a plan?” Jongin asked as he made sure that Kyungsoo was seated properly and comfortably, even when he can’t feel it.

“A bit of a plan,” the Doctor said. “Memories are more powerful than you think and Kyungsoo is not an ordinary boy. Growing up with a time crack in his wall, the universe pouring through his dreams every night.” The Doctor touched his fingers in Kyungsoo’s temples, then concentrated. “I’m leaving him a message so he’ll know what’s happening.” The Doctor pulled Jongin away from the Pandorica and pressed his sonic screwdriver at it so that it will close.

“What are you doing?” Jongin asked as he watched the box closing.

“Saving him,” the Doctor said as the Pandorica seal shut. “The Pandorica is the ultimate prison, you can’t escape it by dying. Therefore, it will keep him alive until his actual DNA touches the box.”

“DNA? Where will we find that?”

“Oh, in about a few millennia,” the Doctor said. He attached his portable computer on his wrist and started to dial some numbers. “Okay, this should be it. Hold on to my arm.”

“Why?”

“We’re taking a short cut,” the Doctor explained. “More specifically in 2009 when I first met Kyungsoo and took him to the museum.”

“So there’s still a future for us?”

“A version of it,” the Doctor said. “Come on, it should be safe. I transformed the computer as a Vortex Manipulator, rubbish way to time travel but we can’t be choosy.”

“This box needs a guard. I killed the last one.”

“No, Jongin,” the Doctor sighed. “Don’t even think about it.”

“He’ll be all alone.”

“He won’t feel it.”

“You bet he won’t.”

“It’s almost three thousand years, Jongin. You won’t sleep, you’d be conscious the entire time. It’ll drive you mad.”

“Will he be safe if I stay here?”

“Jongin…”

“Answer me!”

The Doctor gave in. “Yes, obviously. He’ll be safer with you here.”

“Then how can I leave him?”

“Jongin…why do you have to be so…” the Doctor tried to find the right word for it. “...human?”

“Because right now, I’m not.”

The Doctor shook his head, then dialed again in the Vortex Manipulator. "Listen to me, this will be the last bit of advice you'll hear in a long time. You're a living plastic but you're not indestructible. You can't heal or repair yourself. So, no matter how bored you are, don't --"

Jongin wasn’t able to hear what the Doctor wanted to say because he was already gone.

Jongin pulled out his gladius and stood guard before the Pandorica.

**_*2009, National Museum, closing hours*_ **

Young Kyungsoo jumped out from the place he had been hiding the entire time the museum was open.

In the morning, he received a pamphlet of the museum, with the Pandorica encircled in a red circle. He forced his aunt to accompany him to the museum. Upon there, he immediately ditched his aunt and proceed to where the huge box was. While suckling on the drink he was holding, he found a note attached to the Pandorica with his name on it, asking him to stick around.

So he did.

Now that the museum was empty, he went back to the Pandorica and stared at it. It was as if it was calling the little boy. He went behind the cordon and touched the stone box. The moment his palm touched the smooth, cold stone, it glowed brightly and it slowly opened.

Little Kyungsoo stepped back and watched as the Pandorica finally opened to reveal a man inside it.

A man who looked a lot like him. Like an older version.

“Okay, kid, this is where it will get complicated," Kyungsoo stumbled out of the Pandorica and gazed at the little boy before him. He measured the boy's height and the length of his hair and noticed how plump he used to be.

“Who are you?” little Kyungsoo asked.

“I’m you, from the future,” Kyungsoo said. He should’ve freaked out that his current self met with his younger self but he had more important things to do. He walked towards where a television was showing the history of the Pandorica, dating back 100 BC.

_“According to legends, wherever the Pandorica is taken, the Centurion would be there guarding it. He appears as an iconic image of many cultures and there are several documented accounts of his appearance and his warning to the many who attempted to open the box before its time. His last recorded appearance was during the war in 1941. The warehouse where the Pandorica was stored was destroyed by bombs but the next morning, the box itself was in a safe distance from the blaze. There were eyewitnesses from that night that said a figure in Roman dress, carrying the box from the flames. There have been no sightings of the Lone Centurion since then and many have speculated that if he ever existed, he perished in the fire of that night, performing a final act of devotion to the box he had pledged to protect all those years.”_

Kyungsoo was shaking. He can’t stop his tears from falling. He knew that Jongin loves him so much. He just didn’t realize that it was to this extent.

“Oh, Jongin.”

He felt a tug on his sleeve and he looked down to see his little self offering him a handkerchief.

“EXTERMINATE!”

Older Kyungsoo pulled the little boy with him as they hid behind the Pandorica. A fossilized Dalek was slowly coming back to life.

Suddenly the Doctor appeared before them.

“Doctor!” the two Kyungsoos exclaimed.

"Ah! There are two of you! Complicated!” the Doctor cried.

“EXTERMINATE!”

Older Kyungsoo pulled the Doctor to them.

“What’s going on here?”

A man joined them in the room with the Dalek.

“Leave!” the Doctor shouted at the man who was still covered in the shadows. “It’s dangerous here! Leave!”

“DROP THE DEVICE!”

The Doctor panicked at the Dalek’s voice. He peeked out their hiding spot to see the man holding a flashlight.

“He’s unarmed!” the Doctor shouted at the Dalek. “Scan him! It’s only a torch!”

“SCAN INDICATES INTRUDER UNARMED.”

The Doctor sighed in relief and just wished that the man would just go away.

“You think?”

They heard the man say before a gunshot was heard and the Dalek screaming in pain then shuddered to a stop.

The trio came out from hiding. Kyungsoo immediately ran towards the man in the shadows.

“Jongin!”

“Kyungsoo!”

Kyungsoo jumped in Jongin’s arms and held tight. Jongin buried his head in Kyungsoo’s neck and breathed him in.

“Jongin...Jongin…”

“Kyungsoo,” Jongin sobbed. He can’t believe he can finally hold him in his arms. He released him but cradled Kyungsoo’s face in his hands. “You don’t know how long I have waited for this.”

“I know,” Kyungsoo hiccuped. “So shut up and kiss me!”

Jongin chuckled. “Yes, sir.”

After several millennia, Jongin was finally able to kiss Kyungsoo, who kissed him back with much fervor. This was what Jongin had ever dreamed of. It has finally come true.

“And break,” the Doctor told the couple but they didn’t separate. “And breathe!” But Jongin and Kyungsoo didn’t break apart. “Well, somebody didn’t get out much.”

“Is that me in the future?” little Kyungsoo asked the Doctor. “Is he the future Jongin? Are we going to end up together?”

"Spoilers," was all the Doctor can say, covering little Kyungsoo's eyes. He was tempted to pull the couple apart but they did break apart when they heard the Dalek coming back to life.

“It’s the light,” the Doctor pointed at the light coming from the Pandorica that was hitting the Dalek. “The light from the Pandorica is keeping the Dalek alive.” He was then pushing Jongin and the two Kyungsoos out of the door. “Out! Out!”

The foursome ran through the door and closed it behind. The Doctor looked for something to lock it and found a mop. He ran to retrieve it and then back to the door.

“That!” Jongin pointed at him.

“What?” the Doctor asked.

“That’s how you looked back then when you gave me your sonic screwdriver!”

"No time to waste then," the Doctor dialed on his Vortex Manipulator and then vanished. Before any of them could react, the Doctor reappeared and then disappeared again.

“How is he doing that? Is he magic?” little Kyungsoo asked.

The Doctor reappeared again and ran past them. "Let's go then. But wait, I gave you the sonic and now I don't have one." He dialed again in the Vortex manipulator and disappeared then reappeared after a few seconds in between. He went straight to Kyungsoo to get the sonic screwdriver in Kyungsoo’s top pocket. “Right…,” he pointed at the little boy. “How did you know to come here?”

Little Kyungsoo showed him the pamphlet that he received.

“Oh, that’s my handwriting,” the Doctor said. He ran towards the side where the Information Desk was, grabbed a pamphlet, scribbled on it before disappearing again. When he reappeared, he immediately pulled them towards the stairs.

“How are you doing that?” older Kyungsoo asked.

“Vortex Manipulator. Cheap and nasty way to travel, very bad for you. I’m trying to give it up,” the Doctor replied.

“Where are we going?” Jongin asked.

“The roof!”

But all of them stopped in their tracks when they saw the Doctor atop the stairs, his body slightly smoking before he fell on the stairs. The four of them watched in shock. The Doctor, the one with them, checked on his own fallen body. He just watched his own death.

“Doctor, it’s you,” Jongin pointed it out.

“Yeah, it’s me. Me from the future,” the Doctor said. The future Doctor wakes up suddenly and pulled the Doctor closer to whisper in his ear. Then he fell back, unmoving.

“Is he...are you dead?” Kyungsoo asked.

“What? Oh, yes, yes, quite so,” the Doctor answered distractedly. “Right, I have twelve minutes,” he looked at his watch. “That’s good.”

“Twelve minutes to live? How is that good?”

“You can do a lot for twelve minutes. Hug the people you love for twelve minutes, eat your favorite meal, call the people you love one last time. Come on, the roof.”

“We can’t leave you here,” Jongin said.

“Oh, you're in charge now, are you? Tell me then, what are we going to do with little Kyungsoo?” the Doctor pointed behind them.

When the older Kyungsoo and Jongin turned, the little boy was nowhere to be found.

“Kyungsoo!” Kyungsoo called his younger self. He felt weirded out calling his name.

“Kyungsoo!” Jongin called too.

“There’s no Kyungsoo. From now on, there never was. History is collapsing,” the Doctor said as he ran upstairs.

Kyungsoo followed him. Jongin removed his jacket and placed it over the future Doctor’s face. Then he followed them up.

“Is it morning already?” Jongin asked when he stepped outside the rooftop.

“History is shrinking. Does anybody listen to me?” the Doctor said. He sonicked a satellite dish then removed it from its pole.

“What are you doing?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Looking for the TARDIS.”

“But the TARDIS exploded,” Jongin said.

“Well then, I’m looking for an exploding TARDIS,” the Doctor raised the satellite dish and pointed it directly to where the sun was. “There’s a total event collapse. Meaning all the stars in the universe never happened. Not one single one of them ever shone. So, if all the stars that ever were are gone, then what is that? Like I said, I was looking for an exploding TARDIS.”

“But that’s the sun,” Jongin said.

“Is it?” the Doctor sonicked the satellite dish in his hand again until they can hear a sound. “If it’s the sun, then why is it making that noise?” They can properly hear the sound now. It was the sound of the TARDIS. “That’s my TARDIS burning up.”

“Doctor, there’s something else,” Jongin said.

“I don’t hear anything else,” Kyungsoo said.

“Trust the plastic,” Jongin pointed to his ear.

The Doctor pressed his sonic again to amplify the sound.

_“...I’m sorry, my love…”_

“That’s Suho!” Kyungsoo exclaimed.

_“...I’m sorry, my love…”_

“Is it a recording?” Jongin asked.

“No...no, no. Of course! The emergency protocols! The TARDIS has sealed off the control room and put him on loop to save him. He is in the heart of the explosion," the Doctor dialed on his Vortex Manipulator and then he was transported inside the TARDIS where he saw Suho trying to open the door.

“...I’m sorry, my love.”

“Hi, honey. I’m home,” the Doctor announced his presence.

“And what time do you call this?” Suho asked.

“Come on,” he gestured to Suho. When Suho grabbed his arm, they were transported back to where Jongin and Kyungsoo were waiting on them from the roof.

“Suho!” Kyungsoo ran up to hug him.

“Kyungsoo,” Suho sighed in relief but his eyes were on the person standing behind. When Kyungsoo released him, Suho immediately went to Jongin and hugged him.

“Jongin,” Suho almost sobbed. “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

“Me too,” Jongin patted Suho’s head. He found it quite awkward. When they first met, Suho had kissed his cheek and now Suho was hugging him while crying.

Suho released his hold on Jongin and hastily wiped his tears. “Okay. Doctor, you have a plan, yeah?”

The Doctor was staring at his exploding TARDIS in the sky. “Yes, I do. Let’s go.”

Just as they were running towards the door back to the museum, they heard the Dalek’s distorted voice as it flew towards them and firing at them. They hurriedly went inside and locked the door.

“It’s going to need time to restore its powers again. We have exactly four minutes before it can be lethal again,” the Doctor said as he led them towards the stairs.

“How do you know the exact time?” Suho asked.

“Because it’s the time it's due to kill me.”

“Kill you? What do you mean kill you?”

“Oh shut up, never mind about that,” the Doctor said. They were already by the corridors inside the museum. “How can the Dalek be alive? Entire races were deleted from history.”

“You said a while ago that it was because of the light from the Pandorica,” Kyungsoo said.

“It’s not really a light. It’s a restoration field but let’s just call it a light,” the Doctor said. “It brought you back. But how can it bring a Dalek back?”

“I know you have answers,” Suho said.

“When the TARDIS blew up, it caused a total event collapse. It blasted every atom in every moment in the universe except the inside of the Pandorica,” suddenly the Doctor’s eyes shone upon the realization he made. “The Pandorica is the perfect prison. It preserved billions of atoms of the universe as it was. You could extrapolate the whole universe from a single atom! It will be like cloning from a single cell!”

“Not following,” Jongin complained. He has always hated science.

“The box contains the memory of the universe and the light transmits the memory. That’s how we are going to do it!”

“Do what exactly?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Relight the fire! Reboot the universe! Come on!” the Doctor said excitedly as he led them on the corridors.

“Doctor, that’s impossible,” Suho said. “The Pandorica can’t even properly restore one Dalek. How can it restore the entire universe?”

“What if we give it a moment of infinite power?” the Doctor asked back.

“That would be lovely but how?” Suho asked.

“One spark is all we need,” the Doctor said.

“EXTERMINATE!”

A laser beam hit the Doctor squarely on the chest and he fell on the ground. Jongin pulled Kyungsoo and Suho behind a column and shot at the Dalek with his gun hand. They watched as the Doctor disappeared from the floor.

“Damn it, he could be anywhere!” Suho almost screamed.

“He’s downstairs,” Kyungsoo quietly said. They can hear the Dalek restoring.

“Show me,” Suho said.

“Suho, he died,” Kyungsoo told him.

Suho was shocked to hear it but he knew the Doctor has something up his sleeve. Suho turned and glared at the Dalek. “You go to the Doctor, I’ll be with you shortly,” he went from his hiding place and stood before the Dalek.

Jongin pulled at Kyungsoo and ran to the stairs.

“YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!”

“Not yet. Your systems are still restoring, your shield is compromised. One shot at your eye-stalk will kill you,” Suho said as he retrieved his gun behind him and adjusted it.

“RECORDS INDICATE THAT YOU WILL SHOW MERCY. YOU ARE AN ASSOCIATE OF THE DOCTOR.”

“My name is Suho. Check your records again,” Suho said as he raised his gun and pointed it directly at the Dalek.

“MERCY!”

“Say it again?”

“MERCY!”

“One more time.”

Jongin and Kyungsoo ran downstairs to where the Doctor's body should've been but the only thing they found was Jongin's jacket.

"Where did he go?" Kyungsoo asked as he looked around the empty stairways and hallways.

"He was here! He was supposed to be here! We saw him got shot and fell down here. He died here," Jongin said.

"Who told you that?"

Jongin and Kyungsoo looked up to see Suho descending the stairs, his face looked murderous.

"The Doctor did," Kyungsoo answered.

Suho continued walking downstairs, past the two and into the hall holding the Pandorica. Jongin and Kyungsoo immediately followed.

"Rule number one," Suho said. "The Doctor always lies."

"But why?" Jongin asked. "Why did he lie about dying?"

"He didn't lie about the dying. He is dying and the stubborn idiot is refusing to regenerate. He used us as a distraction," Suho replied.

"Distraction?" Kyungsoo asked.

"Draw the attention of the Dalek so he can work here."

They've arrived at the hall holding the Pandorica. Several wires were now being connected to something inside it.

It was connected to the chair where the barely conscious Doctor was sitting on.

"Doctor? Can you hear me? What were you doing?" Suho asked.

"Big Bang...two…" the Doctor weakly replied.

"Big Bang? Isn't that the beginning of the universe?" Jongin asked.

"What? And Big Bang Two is going to bring us back?" Kyungsoo asked back.

"Oh...that's brilliant!" Suho said. "The spark he mentioned! The Pandorica holds every DNA of all of history. Threw it in the TARDIS that's exploding in every point in history...let there be light!"

"How will that be done?" Jongin asked.

"He wired the Vortex Manipulator to the TARDIS and he'll fly the Pandorica to the TARDIS," Suho explained. "We'll wake up tomorrow where we ought to be. None of this happened. We won't remember this."

"The Doctor will be in the heart of the explosion... But he can come back too, right?" Kyungsoo said.

Suho's face fell slightly but he reined in his emotions. "The cracks in time will close but he will be on the other side. All memories of him will be gone. He will never have been born."

"There has to be another way!" Jongin exclaimed.

But no one was talking.

"Suho…"

Suho leaned down to the Doctor and gave tiny nods. Then he led the confused couple away from the Pandorica then started to work on the remaining wires. He went back to the Doctor to inform him all has been set.

"Kyungsoo, he's asking for you," Suho approached them.

"Me? Why me? Why not you?" Kyungsoo asked. Kyungsoo had an idea as to what the relationship between Suho and the Doctor was so he can't understand why the Doctor would ask for him and not Suho.

"He doesn't really know me yet," Suho said, his voice breaking on the last word. Tears pooled in his eyes but he hastily blinked them away. He stood with Jongin and checked on the time for the TARDIS explosion.

"Hey," Kyungsoo quietly greeted.

"Do Kyungsoo, the boy who waited all night in his garden. Was it worth it?" the Doctor asked.

"Of course it was," Kyungsoo angrily wiped the tears that escaped his eyes.

"Remember when you asked me why I chose you? I told you it was just because. But I lied, Kyungsoo," the Doctor said.

"Shut up, it's not important now."

"Oh, but it is. It's the most important thing," the Doctor said. "It's why I'm doing this. Kyungsoo, your house was too big. Big, empty house and just you.”

"And my aunt," Kyungsoo corrected.

"Where's your mother and father?"

"They died when I was a child."

"How did they die?"

"I...I can't remember!"

"It's okay. It's okay. Don't panic," the Doctor whispered. "The crack in your wall has been eating away your life. Do Kyungsoo, the boy who doesn't make sense. How can I resist that?"

"Doctor, how can I just forget that?" Kyungsoo sobbed. He can't accept the fact that he can't remember his parents.

"Nothing is ever forgotten. Not really," the Doctor said.

"Doctor, it's speeding up!" Suho reminded them of the explosion.

The Doctor sat up straighter in his chair. "There's going to be a bang, Kyungsoo. Very big bang. Big bang two. Try and remember your family and they'll be there."

"How can I remember something that never existed?"

"Because you're special. You brought Jongin back. You can bring the others back too."

"But you won't," Kyungsoo placed the Doctor's sonic screwdriver in his breast pocket and kissed his forehead.

"You'll have your family back, Kyungsoo," the Doctor said. "You won't be needing your imaginary friend anymore."

Kyungsoo shook his head and he stepped back. The Pandorica was slowly closing.

"Look at that, Do Kyungsoo crying over me," the Doctor smiled. "Kyungsoo, guess what?"

Kyungsoo just let his tears fall. "What?"

"Gotcha."

The Pandorica completely sealed off and Jongin has to pull Kyungsoo away as the Pandorica propelled towards the ceiling, into the sky, and into the TARDIS.

Then everything was white.

***

The Doctor woke up inside the TARDIS.

It wasn't burning. It wasn't exploding. It was just his old plain TARDIS.

"I'm alive!" the Doctor exclaimed and cheered whilst lying down on the floor.

He didn't know why everything seemed okay when he thought he was going to die once the Pandorica reaches the TARDIS.

He sat up to check if he was missing a body part and when he realized he was okay, he stood up and ran to the door to inform Kyungsoo and the others that he was okay.

But when he opened the door expecting to see the hallways of the museum, he, instead, saw another interior of the TARDIS.

"Why do you mean there's a beach in space?"

The Doctor heard Kyungsoo asked.

"Beach space."

He heard himself answering. When he turned to properly see Kyungsoo, he realized that what he was seeing was the time they planned to go to Space Maldives.

The Doctor went back to the door but he entered another dimension, this time he was outside Kyungsoo's house. It was that time he decided to bring Kyungsoo back after they lost Jongin.

"Is this what they call life flashing before your eyes the moment that you die?" the Doctor asked himself.

He smiled in understanding. He was dying and everything he was seeing was just memories. He felt the TARDIS let him visit those memories that he holds close.

He hung his head as he walked back to the door of the TARDIS. But he walked instead into a forest, where he saw Kyungsoo sitting on a rock with his eyes blindfolded.

The _Byzantium._

After making sure that no one will see him, he approached Kyungsoo and held his hands.

"Kyungsoo?"

"Doctor?"

He can see Kyungsoo trembling slightly. He can see him scared but he was trying to be brave.

"Kyungsoo, you need to start trusting me. It's never been more important," the Doctor said.

"But you don't always tell me the truth."

The Doctor closed his eyes and his hearts ached. "If I tell you the truth, I wouldn't need you to trust me."

Kyungsoo stilled then gave a small nod. "Doctor, that crack in time… that was the crack on my wall, wasn't it? Why is it here? Why is it following me?"

"I don't know. I'm still trying to figure it out," he lied.

Kyungsoo gripped his hands tighter. "Stay, Raggedy Man."

The Doctor choked a sob. He leaned and kissed Kyungsoo's forehead. "Now listen, remember what I told you when you were ten?"

"What did you tell me?"

"No, no, that's not the point. You have to remember."

The Doctor noticed that the clerics were coming to Kyungsoo so he extracted his hands from his hold and left with Kyungsoo calling for him.

When the Doctor entered the TARDIS, he walked into a familiar garden. It was freezing but a boy was sleeping outside atop his huge suitcase.

"Do Kyungsoo, the boy who waited," the Doctor walked to the sleeping boy and picked him up in his arms. "Come here, you."

The Doctor placed him in his bed and under the blankets.

The Doctor sat on the chair beside the bed, suddenly feeling tired. Like all of those years in his life finally caught up with him.

"I thought that if you hear me, I could still hold on somehow," the Doctor chuckled. "When you wake up, Kyungsoo, you'll have your parents back and then you will forget about me. I'll be just a story in your head. But it's okay. After all, we're just stories in the end. But just make it a good one, eh? Because it was you know, it was the best."

Young Kyungsoo was mumbling something and turned in his bed.

"You'll dream of me and the box. Oh, that box. Did I ever tell you I stole it? I stole and ran away. I meant, borrowed since I always planned to return it. The old TARDIS, bluest of blue. Big and little at the same. New and ancient at the same time," the Doctor said. "You'll dream about the times we had. Would have had. Never had."

Kyungsoo sighed in his sleep and smiled.

"All our adventures," the Doctor tried to rein in his emotions. "They will still be with you. They'll be there. The Doctor and Do Kyungsoo, and the days that never came."

The Doctor heard crackling behind him and saw that the huge crack in Kyungsoo's room was closing.

"The crack is closing now but it can't close completely until I'm on the other side. I don't belong here anymore."

The Doctor stood then leaned down to kiss Kyungsoo on his forehead.

"I'll skip the rest of the rewind. I hate repeats," the Doctor said. "Live well. And love Jongin. And I'll give you a little present. When you wake up, you don't have to wait for your wedding to come. Bye-bye, Do Kyungsoo."

***

The alarm was blaring and Kyungsoo rolled over to turn it off. After a few minutes, it rang again. Kyungsoo groaned, blindly reached for the alarm clock and then placed it under the pillow.

"Wake up, sleepyhead! Big day today!"

Kyungsoo's eyes flew open and searched for the source of the voice.

A woman was placing a tray of food on his table.

"You're my mom," Kyungsoo whispered. Then he threw off the blankets and jumped to hug his mother. "You're my mom!"

"Of course I'm your mom," his mother patted his hand and kissed his head. "Chop chop, son. We have so many things to do."

Kyungsoo ran downstairs to see a tiny man with a balding head sitting in the dining room.

"Oh, Kyungsoo! You're up!"

"My dad! My tiny dad!" Kyungsoo ran up to him and kissed his bald spot.

"What's gotten into you?" his father asked.

"He woke up weird," his mother joined them. She pushed a suit to Kyungsoo. "Eat your breakfast and take a bath."

Kyungsoo looked at the suit in her hands. Then to his father who was writing a speech. Then around their house to see flowers all around.

"It's my wedding day," Kyungsoo said.

"Yes. Now go upstairs and change. We can't let the Kims wait," his mother said.

Kyungsoo ran up his room and picked up his phone.

_"Hello."_

"Jongin! We're getting married today!" Kyungsoo excitedly, almost shouted, through the phone.

_"Yep!"_

Kyungsoo can hear Jongin brushing his teeth through the phone. "But have you felt weird when you woke up? Like something is missing? Like you've missed some parts of your life? I can barely remember the six months that past. Does it seem like it went by so fast?"

_"Yep."_

"You're just saying that because you're scared of me, aren't you?"

_"Yep."_

Kyungsoo smiled. "I love you."

_"Yep. I mean I love you too!!"_

Kyungsoo laughed as he ended the call.

"Time to get married then!"

The reception was in a fit of giggles when Kyungsoo's father asked for another five minutes before he can make the speech. He had to revise his speech since he had the same joke as the best man.

"Your father is going to be the death of me," Kyungsoo's mother said from across the table.

Kyungsoo laughed and held Jongin's hand. When he looked to the window, he saw a handsome man passing by who also looked at him and smiled.

Kyungsoo gasped. The man looked so familiar. But he can't remember where he saw him.

"Kyungsoo, are you okay?" Jongin asked. "You're crying."

Kyungsoo touched his cheeks and sure enough, tears were streaming down his face.

"I am. Why am I crying?"

"Because you're happy! You're happy we're married! Mr. Kim Kyungsoo!" Jongin said cheerily.

Kyungsoo shook his head. "No. I'm sad, Jongin. Really sad."

"Great," Jongin tried not to sound so hurt.

"What's that?" Kyungsoo noticed the blue old battered book beside Jongin's plate.

"Oh," Jongin picked it up and handed it to Kyungsoo. "The wait staff told me to give it to you. Some man named Suho gave it to them and asked to be given to you. Do we know a Suho?"

"What's this?" Kyungsoo flipped on the pages.

"A book."

"But it's blank!" he furiously flipped on the pages. The pages seemed like there were words written on it, only they were erased.

"It's a present!"

"But why?" Kyungsoo was getting frustrated. There's that nagging feeling at the back of his mind that he had forgotten something very important.

"Well, you know the old saying? That old wedding thing?" Jongin said.

Kyungsoo gasped. He looked around the room. One of his cousins was wearing a bow tie. He can recall someone saying that bow ties were cool. One of Jongin's uncles was wearing suspenders. Who else did he know who wears those?

A single tear fell to the open empty page.

"Shut up, dad," Kyungsoo suddenly stood up and interrupted his father who just started to share a childhood story of Kyungsoo.

"Kyungsoo?" Jongin asked worriedly.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry everyone. But someone is missing. Someone so, so important," Kyungsoo took a deep breath. "When I was a kid, I had an imaginary friend."

"Oh no, not this again," his mother groaned beside him.

"The raggedy Doctor. My raggedy man," Kyungsoo balled up his fist. He was sure as the beat of his heart. "But he was not imaginary. He was real."

He can see several of their guests whispering among themselves. Some have disapproving looks. He heard his mother telling someone on their table about the number of psychiatrists they went to.

"I remember you! I remember!" Kyungsoo shouted while looking around the room. "I brought the others back! I can bring you back too! Oh, raggedy man, I remember you and you are late for my wedding!"

The room began to shake. Glasses started rattling and the chandeliers were slightly swinging.

"I found you in words like you knew I would. That's why you told me that story. The story of that brand new, ancient blue box. Oh clever, very clever!"

"Kyungsoo, what are you talking about?" Jongin was also standing now.

A strong wind blew into the room despite the windows being closed.

"Something old, something new, something borrowed," Kyungsoo stared into the center of the dance floor where the TARDIS started to materialize. "Something blue."

"It's the Doctor," Jongin suddenly said feeling a little lightheaded. "How did we forget the Doctor? I was a plastic!"

Kyungsoo climbed up the table and onto the dance floor then rapidly knocked on the TARDIS.

"Open up, Doctor! Did I surprise you this time?" Kyungsoo excitedly asked.

The door opened and the Doctor, in a black tuxedo complete with a top hat, peeked out.

"Yes, completely astonished. How lucky I was wearing this old thing," he gestured to his clothes. He stepped out of the TARDIS and looked at everyone's shocked faces. "Hi, I'm Kyungsoo's imaginary friend but I came anyway."

"Doctor!" Jongin called.

"Ah! The new Mr. Do!" the Doctor shook Jongin's hand.

"No," Jongin said but then he saw Kyungsoo glaring at them. "Yeah…"

"Right, you'll be needing the space so I'll move my box. I came for the dancing anyway," the Doctor said.

Kyungsoo's face was a little flushed as he was leaning unto Jongin on the dance floor. He might be a little drunk but he was just embarrassed at what the Doctor was doing on the dance floor. He doesn't know if the Doctor was doing an alien dance or what. He kept putting his hands above his head and bobbed his head in between. He called it the Giraffe Dance.

The music turned to slow and only a couple of people were left on the dance floor, including the newlyweds. They were whispering to themselves, giggling between themselves then they started kissing.

Jongin held Kyungsoo closer and rested the other's head on his shoulder.

"Three thousand years. Kim Jongin, the boy who waited," the Doctor whispered to himself as he watched his friends. "Good on you, mate."

He peeled himself off the wall and walked outside towards the TARDIS to see someone waiting for him. He handed him the blue book.

"The writings are back but I didn't peek," the Doctor said.

"Thank you," Suho replied as he put the book in his coat pocket. "Did you dance? You always dance at weddings."

"You tell me."

Suho chuckled. "Spoilers."

"Are you married Suho?"

Suho raised his wrist to dial on the Vortex Manipulator. "Are you asking?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"No. Did you think that I was asking you to marry me or asking if you were married?" the Doctor asked visibly flustered.

"Yes," Suho smirked.

"Was that a yes or yes?"

"Yes," Suho teased, his eyes shining.

The Doctor shook his head and chuckled. "Who are you, Suho? Are you still serving at Stormcage? Are you going to tell me who you killed?"

Suho looked through the window glass to see Jongin and Kyungsoo coming towards them.

"Spoilers," Suho placed a finger on his lips. "You'll find out soon enough, my love. And I'm sorry. But that's where everything changes," Suho answered.

"Will you tell them?"

"No," Suho said. "They'll find it out with you. See you later, Doctor."

Suho vanished just in time as Kyungsoo and Jongin arrived.

"Oi! Are you giving us the slip?" Kyungsoo asked.

"Sorry, I was busy," the Doctor said.

"You saved the whole time and space. Take a night off," Jongin suggested.

"There's still a lot of things to be answered," the Doctor said. "I guess this is the time to say goodbye."

"You're right," Kyungsoo nodded then turned to Jongin. "Do you think this is goodbye?"

"Yeah. I think so too," Jongin agreed.

"Well," Kyungsoo turned back and waved at the reception hall. "Goodbye everyone!" he said and then went inside the TARDIS.

The Doctor was too surprised to even react. With everything that's happened, he expected that Jongin and Kyungsoo will no longer go with him as they would want to settle down.

"You can't get rid of us easily," Jongin winked then clapped his shoulder. "Come on, I have an idea where to go to next," he said as he walked inside the TARDIS and shouted for Kyungsoo.

The Doctor tried hard not to cry but a tear or two escaped his eyes.

Then with a smile, he entered the TARDIS.

Onto another adventure!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The episode this chapter was based on is called The Big Bang.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and had a wonderful adventure together with our protagonists!
> 
> Love lots! xxx


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